It’s truly frightening to have nowhere to go. There is no cozy place where stray dogs can rest their heads and feel safe.
Some homeless dogs choose one particular spot because it feels safer than wandering. They wait there, hoping that someone will see them and decide that they are worthy of love, too.
One little pup held on to that hope for two long weeks. The rubble of a demolished car wash was his home. Although the ground was cold, the pup stayed.
He waited through rain and cold nights, hoping his life would soon change.
A Heartbreaking Discovery
A small pup was trying to survive in an abandoned lot in Montebello, California.
A kind woman named Darlene Valencia-Mata was walking her dog when she noticed him curled up among broken pieces of the old car wash. The puppy looked sad and tired of waiting.
Valencia-Mata’s heart sank. She knew the stray pup couldn’t stay there another day.
“This poor little baby boy had been surviving at a demolished car wash for two long weeks. This was the only “home” he ever knew — a sad, lonely place made of rubble, trash, and silence,” rescuer Suzette Hall later wrote on Facebook.
Valencia-Mata visited him every day. She brought food and a small bed, hoping he would feel at least a little safer. The hungry pup was grateful and ate the food she gave him.
“I have been feeding him for the past 4 days,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “I live in a condo and don’t have a yard. I pray someone can find him a forever home.”
The little dog huddled on the little bed Valencia-Mata brought him, and continued waiting.
The Moment Of Rescue
News about the stray pup reached Suzette Hall, who had helped many dogs in need.
When she arrived and saw the little dog, she felt devastated.
It rained heavily the night before. There were large puddles on the ground, and the pup’s bed was soaking wet. And yet, he slept there anyway because he had nowhere else to go.
“…When we found him… my heart absolutely broke. He was curled up next to that tiny bed—fast asleep—right beside a huge puddle of cold water,” Hall said.
Hall wanted to take him with her as soon as possible. She set up a humane trap with food inside.
As the pup approached, his tail began to wag. He sensed that something good might finally be happening.
While Hall was waiting, she looked up and noticed a rainbow in the sky. At that moment, she heard the trap door close.
“It felt like the end of one chapter and the beginning of another,” she said.
The little dog was finally safe. He wouldn’t have to spend another night on cold concrete in the abandoned lot surrounded with trash.
A New Chapter
The pup was happy because after two weeks of waiting for someone to come back, he finally received the love and care he needed.
“For two weeks, nobody ever came back for him,” Hall wrote. “But tonight… tonight he is safe. Warm. Seen. Loved.”
He would never again sleep beside puddles or curl up in the shadows of an abandoned lot. That part of his life was behind him.
Thanks to Valencia-Mata’s kindness and Hall’s rescue, a once-forgotten pup now has a bright future. He is beginning a life where he will be cared for, protected, and loved the way he always deserved.