07/08/2025
He was there, all alone, under a scorching sun, lying next to a barely-standing cardboard box. An empty bowl sat beside him, a cruel reminder of what he no longer had: water, food, human warmth. A puppy ā so small, too small to survive on his own, too young to understand what was happening to him.
When I approached, he didnāt move. Not even a flinch. Just a look ā tired, broken ā the look of a being who expects nothing anymore. I froze. How does it come to this? How can someone leave a life in a box, by the side of the road, like throwing away something they no longer want?
He was so skinny that his ribs drew a map of suffering across his little body. His breathing was slow, like he was torn between holding on or letting go. I placed my hand on him, gently. And then, I felt a shiver. A little sigh. Like a flicker of hope barely reigniting.
I picked him up.
He weighed almost nothing. But what I carried at that moment was the full weight of abandonment, injustice, indifference. And yet, at that precise moment, it wasnāt sadness I felt. It was a promise. That this puppy ā this little being left like trash ā would never have to live through that again.
His name is now Chance.
Because he got a second chance ā and he deserves it a thousand times over. We rushed him to the vet. Dehydrated, starving, infested with parasites. But alive. And a fighter. Chance received his first treatment, a warm blanket, and food that he devoured as if he had never eaten before.
Every day since, heās coming back to life a little more. His eyes open wider. His tail moves, timidly. Heās even starting to play, clumsily. And most of all, heās learning to trust again.
Chance will never live in a box again.
He has a bed, a home, endless cuddles and affection. And soon, heāll have a family. A real one. That will never leave him behind. Because an animal is not an object. Itās a beating heart. One that loves. One that suffers. And one that, sometimes ā despite everything ā keeps loving.
And thatās the most powerful part of this story: even broken, Chance never stopped hoping.