WHEN a little girl left behind her beloved stuffed dog at the Norfolk International Airport in Virginia, police officers stepped in to save the day, tracking down the small furry toy and taking him on an adventure, documenting the whole thing.

August “Gussie” Bridges, 8, was in the car on the way home with her parents Kelly and Jonathan when she realised she’d forgotten her dog Cookie Dough on a table in the terminal.

“I thought she was going to cry,” Kelly told The Virginian-Pilot. “She had just got it a few weeks ago out of one of those claw machines at Chicho’s Pizza with her dad and she was really attached to it.”

Kelly said she called the lost and found and was told the airport police would search for the missing stuffed dog. Shortly after, the airport police called to inform her Cookie Dough had been located and was safe.

When Kelly took Gussie to pick up Cookie Dough a few days later, they discovered he’d been on quite the adventure in his time away.

“She went to pick it up today and they gave her this book and I about cried. Norfolk International Airport you all are awesome,” Kelly wrote on Facebook, along with photos of a handmade booklet the officers had printed for Gussie, titled The Adventures of Cookie Dough at the Norfolk Airport.

The airport police had dubbed Cookie Dough an honorary police officer, dressing him up in a uniform and taking him all over the airport, posing him for pictures on the luggage carousel, and sliding down the escalator railing.

“I’m having so much fun … but I still miss you so much!” one line in the book reads below pictures of Cookie Dough riding in the police car.

“I got really hungry … but no worries. They fed me!” another page reads below photos of Cookie Dough next to an apple.

“We knew that the girl’s parents had communicated that she was upset about the lost toy, so the dispatcher and police officers just wanted to put a special touch on returning the toy,” Steve Sterling, deputy executive director of administration and operations for the Norfolk Airport Authority, told the Pilot.

Gussie was thrilled to have her favourite toy back and her mum was touched by the thoughtful gesture. “It meant a lot to all of us,” Kelly told the Pilot. “It was just awesome what they did for Gussie.”