Lonely Dog Living In Middle Of Busy Highway Is So Happy To Be Safe Now

"She needed help and we weren’t leaving without her."

When Soul Dog Rescue workers came across a skinny dog standing all by herself on a busy stretch of highway, they knew they had to save her. But they quickly realized getting close enough to help would be a challenge.

"She did not want anything to do with us, nor did we have a trap, which would have made life easier, but she needed help and we weren’t leaving without her," Soul Dog Rescue wrote on Facebook.

Soul Dog Rescue

The dog, who rescuers later named Joss, looked visibly sick and had been dealing with a severe case of tapeworm.

The only other sign of life they were able to find on Joss’s patch of the highway was a local kettle corn vendor, who seemed to know the dog. The vendor told the rescuers that Joss was not his, but that he had been feeding her from his kettle corn cart when he could.

grey and black dog next to a food truck in the dessert
Soul Dog Rescue

“He said she’d been there for weeks,” Wirth said, “and that he would give her a handful of kettle corn when he could. The kettle corn is probably what kept her alive.”

Watch the moment rescuers first spotted Joss here:

Joss didn't want to leave her spot at first, but she eventually gave in to the wet food Soul Dog placed in their wire crate to trap her. “She did not want to come with us and did not seem happy to be caught,” Wirth said.

Once Joss realized that her unexpected relocation came with consistent, hearty meals, though, she softened up to the change.

grey and black dog sitting outside and licking his lips
Soul Dog Rescue

“She was always, always, always hungry,” Wirth said. “The first week, I had to limit her food because she would just eat until she would explode.”

In between her rescue from the highway and her long-overdue adoption by a loving family, Joss got to stay in Wirth’s home as she recovered from her illnesses. Wirth suspects that it was Joss’s first time in a house at all.

“Going inside was super scary for her,” Wirth said. “She had no idea what was going on.”

grey and black dog laying on the couch
Soul Dog Rescue

According to Wirth, Joss was extremely nervous and shy around her foster family for the first few days of her stay, but she eventually warmed up to them.

“By the end of the two weeks, she wanted to be everywhere with us, just following us around the house,” Wirth said. “I would turn around and she would be there sitting and looking at me, just happy to be there and wanting to be around her people.”

Tony LoCicero

Joss, whose new name is Coco, found her forever-people just a few weeks after learning what “home” was with Wirth. The adopting couple also just completed a big move — meaning that the loving dog who once lived on the highway now lives in a brand-new house just for her and the humans who love her.

grey and black dog sitting and sniffing a man in grey shirt and black shorts
Tony LoCicero

“She is so happy and just loves being in a home,” Wirth said. And, although she misses her, Wirth believes that Coco is right where she belongs.

To help dogs like Joss get the care they need, donate to Soul Dog Rescue.