Unfortunately, not every dog or cat has a home that’s warm, loving, and safe. There is an absolutely alarming number of stray canines and felines out there, with an estimated 70 million having to survive without a roof over their head, and that’s in the United States alone.

Tragically, there are also a lot of animal owners who shouldn’t even come near an animal as things such as abuse and severe neglect aren’t uncommon either.

There’s never a good reason to abandon a pet if you can just bring them safely to a shelter. Unfortunately, a lot of animal owners seem to disagree. Some of them tend to dump their former pets as if they were trash because they became too much of a hassle, their maintenance costs were too high or because they just couldn’t get along.

That seems to be the case for the following tragic story, as a pittie puppy was left behind on the side of the road, completely helpless.

The puppy’s previous owner actually put the tiny and neglected four-footer in a cardboard box and headed towards a parking lot to dump him. There was a home security camera nearby that managed to capture the act on tape.

Shannon was the owner of the CCTV camera guarding the surroundings and her home, but she would soon enough find herself to be the owner of another puppy as well. When she noticed the footage and spotted the mysterious man dropping off a box in front of a parking lot, she knew that she had to take a look and see what was going on.

When she saw the poor pittie puppy, she didn’t hesitate for a second and brought him in to take care of him.

The tiny pit bull seemed to be in a very dire condition, and it was clear that he needed urgent help, food, and water. He was already losing a lot of fur patches as well. Shannon definitely isn’t a stranger to saving animals, as she already has three amazing rescue pups running around in her house. The four-footer wasn’t keen on giving up, however, and Shannon knew that he would make it given he had some tender loving care.

“He was in such a terrible condition,” the kind animal lover said to The Dodo. “But he was still fighting and he was still hanging on.”

Shannon wanted to do everything in her power to make sure this pittie puppy would be back to full health and his energetic, happy self.

She named him “Jiminy Cricket”, which is a character from the Pinocchio fairytale. It was clear that he had a very long way to go, but Shannon was willing to help him the entire time.

Slowly but surely, Jiminy Cricket’s condition and spirits started to improve. He was still a bit timid and scared the first few days, but it didn’t take long before the puppy started to feel like he was a part of the family. He even managed to find his own favorite bed in the house within days!

After just a couple of weeks, the progress that Jiminy Cricket made was absolutely stunning. Not only was he in a much better place physically, his personality and trust in humans were also fully restored. He loves hanging around with the other dogs, and the pooch became best friends with Shannon’s kids.

Pit bulls don’t stay small for a long time, and before anyone knew it, Jiminy even became the largest dog in the house!

“This dog has been with us and has become such a part of our family,” Shannon added. “So we decided that Jiminy Cricket is staying with us and is going to be our fourth rescue dog.”

This poor dog was once left behind, but has now found his perfect home – and his smile really says it all.

“The boys and I could not imagine our life without Jiminy Cricket in it,” Shannon concluded.

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Source: The Dodo