A pet Japanese spitz dog was rescued after jumping from its owner’s car and wandering through traffic on an expressway.

The pooch reportedly fled from a vehicle and ran across the bustling road in South Luzon Expressway in Manila, the Philippines on September 18.

It was spotted by motorists who slowed down to avoid hitting the dog which caused a traffic jam in the area and alerted officers.

Fortunately, traffic enforcers on patrol passed by and spotted the pooch right away before managing the traffic as they tried to catch it.

Onlooker Celine Magat said: ‘We felt tense and worried for the dog because it might have gotten run over. Vehicles on the SLEX drive really fast.’

The playful pooch then appeared to play a game of tag with the officers, who managed to rescue the wayward canine within a few minutes.

Manuel Bonoan, president of Skyway O&M Corporation that operates the SLEX, said: ‘Someone is in the possession of the dog, then it jumped onto the expressway. It was a good thing officers were patrolling the area at the time and found it.’

SLEX personnel are currently taking care of the Japanese spitz, playing with it and feeding it rice and meat. However, Manuel said they now face the problem of finding and verifying the dog’s owner.

He said: ‘How are we going to verify who really owns the dog when it’s gone viral on social media? I don’t know how we are going to process actually if somebody will claim it.’

Meanwhile, motorists driving with their pets on the SLEX have been warned to secure the animals inside their vehicles to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Manuel said: ‘I don’t think this is the first time an incident like this has happened. Unfortunately, some of them we weren’t able to save.’