In the middle of a torrential downpour in South Texas, a tiny puppy sat motionless on an old onion sack, surrounded by rising water. His fur was soaked, his body shivering — but still, he didn’t move.
Somewhere deep inside, he believed that if he just stayed there long enough, the person he loved would return.
That’s where rescuers from Dallas Dog Rescue Rehab Reform (Dallas DogRRR) found him this past summer, after getting a call about a puppy stranded on a flooded baseball field.
When the team arrived, the rain was coming down so hard they could barely see. They searched for hours through the muddy field until one rescuer finally spotted a small, dark shape in the distance.
“And there he was,” Dallas DogRRR later wrote. “Soaked. Cold. Frozen in fear. Just waiting. He never tried to run. He never barked. He just stayed, like he believed someone was coming back.”
The heartbreaking truth was that no one was.
“When we got to him, it looked like he’d almost given up,” said Patti Dawson, director of Dallas DogRRR.
The rescuers scooped up the trembling puppy and rushed him to safety. At the shelter, they discovered just how rough his days alone had been — he was dangerously thin, covered in hundreds of ticks, and too weak to stand for long.
Yet beneath all that pain, they could still see a gentle soul who just wanted love.
“His temperament was super sweet,” Dawson said. “He had definitely been handled by humans before.”
The team named him Slugger — a nod to his spirit and the baseball field where he’d been found — and vowed to help him heal.
With food, medical care, and round-the-clock affection, Slugger began to transform before their eyes.
His eyes grew brighter, his tail started to wag, and before long, he was bounding across his foster home with a new favorite hobby: piling all his toys into one big heap on his bed.
“Watching the transformation of Slugger has been absolutely amazing,” Dawson said.
Not long after, a kind couple fell in love with Slugger’s playful heart and adopted him.
Now, instead of waiting in the rain, he spends his days surrounded by warmth, toys, and a family that will never leave him behind.
Slugger finally has what he waited for all along — someone who will always come back.
To support Dallas DogRRR’s work rescuing dogs like Slugger, you can make a donation here.
