Missouri highway patrolman Rick Sanders knew his partner wasn't feeling well. When you ride a beat with a guy for nearly four years, you get to know him pretty well, and this guy was listless, his eyes dull and his breathing labored.

And his nose wasn't cold.

Sanders lives in Bloomfield, Mo., with Ado, a German shepherd. Together they make up Troop E's canine patrol team.

The patrolman said local veterinarians and St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau saved Ado's life when he suddenly fell ill two weeks ago.

The dog was able to return to duty Tuesday night, and Sanders says perhaps some credit should go to Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

When the dog became sick, Sanders was preparing for a trip to Florida to help his mother while she recovered from knee replacement surgery. The weekend was coming and he was worried about the dog.

Since Cape Girardeau dog trainer Mike Ervin, who contracts with the highway patrol, is Ado's trainer, he decided to check Ado into Skyview Animal Clinic so the dog would be close to Ervin in case of trouble.

X-rays revealed an infection had caused the dog to have serious "pleural effusion," or fluid in the chest cavity, an often fatal condition. The dog had so much fluid, in fact, that it was squeezing his lungs and heart.

The dog was literally suffocating.

Although they drew the liquid out and sent samples to the animal hospital in Columbia, Mo., vets here were sure Ado wouldn't last the weekend.

They didn't know what was causing the infection, and fluid continued to build in his chest.

Until the fluid was tested, doctors wouldn't know what kind of bacteria they were fighting. It was a Saturday afternoon and time was of the essence.

Ervin contacted a friend at St. Francis Medical Center.

A short time later, the hospital's chief executive officer, Steven C. Bjelich, contacted Kim Matthews, laboratory director at the medical center and asked her to help.

The pathologist headed to the laboratory to test the fluid.

Veterinarians, Matthews, and members of the hospital's microbiology staff worked to find the bacteria Ado was fighting.

Doctors determined Ado apparently inhaled some sort of foreign object and was infected with a bacteria more commonly found in the deep South.

A call to a specialist in Columbia, confirmed which antibiotic would be best to treat the problem, and Ado was nursed back to health.

Lab technicians don't usually meet the patients they're working to help but Matthews might recognize this one if she met him on the street.

"We don't do too many dogs," Matthews said.