As I was driving home one evening I came upon a deceased puppy laying in the road and it broke my heart, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the tip of a dogs tail go under the guardrail.

PHOTO: MARYLEE SCHANEN

I rushed home and got my husband and we drove back to the area and he removed the deceased puppy to the side of the road while I looked for the other pup.

We looked for a couple of hours, but couldn’t find him. As I went back to the truck, he howled, he could see me but was too frightened to come out of woods. We went home.

I had to work the next day but as soon as I got off I went right back to look for him but again he was hiding and would not come out. Again he howled as I left. It poured rain that night and I slept very little because I was afraid he was injured.

Next morning I was determined to find him so I returned to the area and decided to climb over guardrail and up the steep hill where the road had been cut
through. There he was, under a small tree above his deceased littermate’s body.

Could not convince him to let me touch him. This went on for about 2 hours. I decided to go home get food and water, as I started down the hill, he followed keeping his distance.

PHOTO: PEXELS

Once we reached the bottom I reached out and barely rubbed his nose, taking a step closer, I patted his head and one more step allowed me to grab all that loose skin on his neck. We went home.

Follow up trip to vet we discovered he had a broken leg at birth-6 weeks, never set so one leg shorter. Subsequent trips to orthopedic vet said leave alone, still going to get third opinion as arthritis will set in when older and his rear hock wobbles like a bad knee.

He is a redbone coonhound and so very smart, 3 days and house broken. He has 2 cockers and a 12 year old rescued white shepherd to keep him company. Living life much better than the person who threw him out to die.

Story submitted by Marylee Schanen.

This story was originally shared on theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com. Share your very own rescue story here!