A Stray Dog Wandered Onto a Porch Seeking Shelter from Irma and Found Herself a New Home

It must have been fate that led a stray dog seeking shelter from Hurricane Irma to the porch of what would ultimately become her forever home.

Imgur user Amiawifeorasword told the incredible tale of the scruffy, starved, scared pup that wandered onto her Florida porch as the animal-loving family were making final preparations for the inevitable impact of Hurricane Irma.

“While I was out prepping our yard for big Irma badness here in central Florida I saw this sweetie across the street. I called to her like I would any dog and she cautiously walked over. Even looked both ways before crossing the street. She’s a smart cookie.”

Understandably nervous, the dog – who’d clearly been living on the streets for quite some time – hesitated to come close. But when offered food and water, she quickly warmed up to her rescuer.

“She scarfed it down with such ferocity. She went through three bowls of food and two cups of water before taking a breath. And each time I went back in the house she waited patiently for me to come back out.”

With a full belly and a reminder of how it felt to be loved, the stray dog welcomed scratches and belly rubs.

“She got pretty snuggly after being feed. As far as even putting her paw on my arm and dragging it back to her chest whenever I paused for a moment.”

After posting photos of the dog to social media, the homeowner discovered she’d once been loved by a very nice family that found themselves in hard times and unable to care for her. They’d rehomed her to another family that they hoped would take good care of her for the rest of her life.

That family, it turns out, would rehome her again, this time to the worst kind of person – a man who decided he didn’t want her anymore and dumped her on the side of the street, alone, to fend for herself.

It turned out she’d been living on the streets for at least a month, and it showed on her matted fur, bleeding paws, and underweight body.

Knowing she needed shelter from the storm, Amiawifeorasword invited her inside to meet her own dog and two cats.

“That’s when I really got a good look at her. She was filthy and smelled to high heaven. Almost every bit of her fur was matted with dirt or feces. She wouldn’t let me touch her ears but I could see massive matts behind them that had to be so painful too.”

To top it off, she had, at some point, sat in tar which was now hardened to her side.

“I got her calmed down and just sat on the bathroom floor with her for ages. She finally let me check her ears and her feet. I didn’t notice until then that her paws were bleeding. (She’d left bloody paw prints in the living room for me to find later.) so I attempted a first bath. It didn’t go so well. She was a nervous wreck. She trusted me enough to pick her up and put her in the tub but as soon as the water came on she barked and cried.”

After a break from bathing, it was time for round two.

“This time I took the hair clippers to her first. She hated the noise but allowed me to cut away most of the matts. I still couldn’t go anywhere near her ears though even with just scissors. It took four hours of cutting and scrubbing. To get her to a reasonable state. The hardened tar was so difficult to get off her backside. I ended up needing to shave away so much of her fur before it was all said and done.”

As soon as she was able, her rescuer took her houseguest to a veterinarian to be checked out. She appears to be a husky/wolf mix, about a year old.

Eventually, the woman that cared for her in her greatest time of need decided that the scruffy stray dog that wandered onto her porch that day was meant to be there forever.

“She is just so loving and grateful. She makes a perfect addition to our family. We named her Amaterasu or Amy for short. She’s already responding to Amy like she was born to it.”

Together, Amy and her new family waited out the storm, both thankful that they’d found each other.