It was a rainy afternoon when Ubaldo Apolinar, a teenager from Selma, California, heard scratching at his front door.
When he opened it, he found a small puppy sitting on the porch, trying to stay out of the downpour. Wanting to make sure she was safe, he tried to bring her inside, but his parents wouldn’t allow it.
That didn’t stop Ubaldo from caring for the little dog who clearly needed his help.
Puppy Left Out In The Rain
Seeing the poor puppy trembling outside, Ubaldo rushed to grab food from his own dog’s supply to feed her.
“At first, she backed away a little bit, but I kept getting closer to her, and once I pet her, she basically trusted me,” Ubaldo told The Dodo.
He wasn’t sure where she had come from, but being a dog owner himself, he wanted to do what he could.
The pup still wore a pink collar, which made him think she must be lost and that her family was searching for her.
Ubaldo posted about her in local community groups on Facebook, hoping her owner would see the posts.
While waiting for a response, he made sure she was fed and cleaned up.
He even asked his parents if the pup could stay the night, but they said no. They already had a dog named Rocky, and the landlord only allowed one pet.
“My sister and I hung out with her out on the porch in the afternoon, and then we played with her […] I was worried about her being outside in the cold at night, so I made a little house for her out of an old cardboard box. But I couldn’t stop thinking about her at night, so I just snuck her in while my parents were asleep,” Ubaldo said.
He quietly brought her into the bathroom where he played with her and tried to keep her calm. He even crafted her a tiny sweater from an old sock.
“I was getting attached to her. I wish I could have kept her, but I knew the right thing to do was to take her back to her owners,” Ubaldo said.
Finding Her Way Home
The next day, his parents caught him with the puppy. But soon after, Ubaldo received a message from someone who thought the dog was theirs.
“I got a potential owner request and after light social media stalking and passing by her house, her story checked out,” Ubaldo said.
The owner lived in Selma too, not far from Ubaldo’s home.
They arranged to meet that same day so the pup could finally go home.
“Right before I returned her, I played with her one last time in the yard with the tennis ball she liked to play with, and I enjoyed the time with her. She was very fun to hung out with. She was very spunky and adorable,” Ubaldo said.
When he met the family, the owner’s daughter shared that the pup’s name was Bubba.
After all the waiting and worry, Bubba was safely home again.
Best of all, she didn’t live far away, which means Ubaldo could visit his new friend whenever he wanted.
Watch Bubba’s journey from being lost to finding her way home: