Living on the street can be hard for a dog, they get little food, have no shelter, and can sometimes find themselves in danger.

Suffice it to say, it is a rough life. For one dog in Los Angeles, things changed after he decided to take a nap on a stranger’s porch.

Living a life of survival

The dog in this story had spent most of his life living on the street. Survival might have been easy at first, but as he got older, chances are he found it getting more difficult.

As the dog slept on the porch of the home, the owner came outside and found him. Instead of running him off, she decided to help.

Rescued by a kind soul

Naming him Solovino, or Solo for short, she called a San Francisco rescue organization, Rocket Dog Rescue, to come and pick him up.

The goal? To find him a new home. She had called Rocket Dog Rescue because she knew they specialized in helping dogs who might otherwise be euthanized at a regular shelter.

The search begins for Solo’s new home

Finding Solo a home was hard at first.

He sat at the shelter for a year-and-half, going in and out of foster homes, until Carol Messina saw his picture online.

She knew in her heart that Solo was the right dog for her and decided to adopt him.

“As soon as I saw his face on their site, I wanted to love him,” Messina told The Dodo. “Then I saw that his name was Solovino, and being a HUGE ‘Star Wars’ fan (I have a cat with a ‘Star Wars’ name as well) I immediately thought, ‘Well, his name is Solo!’ Come to find out, that’s what his foster dad had been calling him! I knew it was fate. Then when I met him and saw how sad he was, I knew he was going to stay with me forever no matter what.”

Messina makes a shocking discovery

When she first got him, Messina noticed how shy and nervous he was. He was slow to trust and a bit more wary than usual.

That was when she made a discovery, Solo was almost deaf. Even the folks at Rocket Dog Rescue had not realized this. He also had bad teeth, which Messina had fixed.

Solo was a brand-new dog

A whole new vibe

The change in Solo’s demeanor was night and day as he soon became cheerful and more outgoing.

She also bought Solo a vest so people would know he was deaf and not try to pet him. Messina also flicks the lights on and off when coming into a room he is in to avoid frightening him.

“The people who live around us are always commenting on how he doesn’t even seem like the same dog anymore,” Messina said. “He didn’t smile or barely open his mouth even to pant for months, and now he smiles and rolls around and will run full-tilt across the lawn a dozen times a day.”

Solo finally had a home to call his own

After years of living life alone on the street, Solo has finally found someone to spend the rest of his days with in a nice, comfy home.

For more on Solo, check out the following video.

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Sources: YouTube – Brighter World, The Dodo