Alva Review-Courier -

BALLWIN, Mo. (AP) — Police in a suburban St. Louis community were called this week to free a small dog from the clutches of an automated vacuum cleaner.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Ballwin officers received a call that a Roomba vacuum had sucked up the tail of a shih tzu mix dog as it napped in a front room.

Police spokesman Mike Burgoyne says that when officers arrived they could hear a dog yelping, a woman screaming and a newborn baby crying.

The officers cut fur off the dog's tail to free it from the Roomba's grip. Burgoyne says the dog was shaken but not injured.

He says the f...