FLORENCE, Ala. - Gary Gallien is a house painter. But earlier this week he became a dog catcher - literally.

Working with a crew at an apartment complex in Florence, Gallien caught a small dog as it fell from a fifth-floor balcony.

Gallien said he had stepped outside the building Tuesday when he heard a woman scream and saw a white, furry object falling toward him.

"Somebody hollered and I looked up and just stuck out my arms and caught it," he said. "I caught it like a football. I was fixing to run for a touchdown with it."

Gallien said he did not know where the dog came from, but he took it back to the fifth floor and turned it loose in the hall.