'They’re lucky to be alive': On her way home with a broken heart, woman finds two dumped doggos barely surviving on the highway; they give her purpose and she finds them forever homes

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Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager
Feb 12, 2026 9:00 AM EST

Sometimes, you need to heal others in order to heal yourself.

The world can be a painful place.

Loss is a part of everyday life. Any dog or pet owner understands this better than most people, as we outlive our furry friends more often than not. And in a world where there is so much pain, it's easy to focus more on the pain of others instead of your own. However, today, we've learned that helping others can be the best way to heal yourself. After taking care of her brother's senior dog towards the end of the pupper's life, she became heartbroken by her passing. But, quite literally on her way home after experiencing heartbreak, she found two dogs barely surviving on the highway. She took them in, fostered them, and fell in love with them. She found them forever homes with families that will make sure they're never cold or hungry again. And in doing so, she found the purpose she needed to lift herself back up. We truly don't deserve dogs.

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    This is a long read but it's worth it for me to get it out. They found their fairy tale and they helped me believe in myself I haven't had a dog of my own since my childhood dog passed away in 2021.
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    I wanted another best friend for years but couldn't bring myself to. Last March my brother couldn't care for his 15yo babygirl Hailey (pit mix) who had mast cell cancer and was losing some mobility.
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    I took her and it changed my life irrevocably. I cannot even express how much I needed her to be with me.
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  • Every dog owner has to deal with this, and no matter how many dogs you have had in your life, it never gets easier. At six years old, we experienced our first pet passing over the rainbow bridge. Our parents took us and our sister, held our hands, and insisted we were in the room when it happened. They told us that, as sad as this is, it is not something to be afraid of. That it was necessary to go through this pain so we would appreciate what we had when we had it. We're very grateful that our parents forced us to be there, to cry and wail, for even days after it happened. But a few weeks later, they also took us to look at puppies that were up for adoption, and we fell in love again. 

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    I knew her time was fading and in late October I took a week off from work to bring her on a 8 hour round trip to see my brother and his family.
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    It didn't go as planned and I felt like a failure. She was a nanny dog for the last half of her life and I knew how special that is because I grew up the same way.
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    Her four girls adored her and were very tearful when she left their lives. My brother is separated from his wife and they aren't on the best terms atm.
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    I went down with the okay from everybody that his dog would see her family and her girls, but when I got there typical bad blood stuff happened and it actually really killed my spirit that it was twisted into the narrative that I was traumatizing the girls with her visit because they knew she was old and sick and would die.
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    That couldn't be further from the truth and my brother and I had a long hard cry sitting with Hailey (his dog and my best friend) knowing she'd never see her girls again with the way things were going.
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    I drove to a halfway point and traded Hailey off to my mom who then took her home, my plan was to go to my hometown and be with my friends to shake this heartbreak off and celebrate Halloween.
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    I was barely 10-15 minutes from dropping her off that I found these two. The cattle dog was literally DODGING cars and the shepherd was on the shoulder without a care in the world, eating trash.
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    As if this wasn't the most dangerous thing they could do??? I pulled over with the intention to get them out of the road, in the back of my mind I thought they had to live nearby and I would just startle them enough to urge them in that direction.
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    When I got out of the car I called and the cattle dog ran straight up to me, tail wagging.
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    She gave me kisses right away and so much love. Her boyfriend followed, hesitant at first and then saw her kissing on me and burst into this huge smile.
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    I hadn't judged their body scores well until I got out and had a good look at them.
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    If you've seen neglect on animals you know what it looks like, and it was obvious they had been out in the elements for quite some time.
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    Their nails weren't short from being cut but from running the roads, the ticks and wounds all over them told me they'd been THRU IT.
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    I had no service so couldn't google what county's animal control to call (first world dumb gen z problems ik) so I drove til I found a Walmart and got them food and water and collars while I was calling everyone I knew for help and advice.
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    It was 8pm at that point and not many people could help me. The doggies ended up coming to my hometown with me, then getting baths at my friend's house on our arrival, and staying in my motel with me.
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    We went to an emergency vet the next day since it was the only place open when I could go, we looked for microchips and found none.
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    They were both obviously unaltered and had lots of internal + external yuckies bc their gums were so pale.
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    I contacted animal control of a few counties since it was hard to tell exactly which they could have come from.
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    They all said the same thing. That stretch of farmland is where everyone dumps their pets, and if they'd been out there for that long they're lucky to be alive.
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    Ya'll. I fell so madly in love with these two, words just don't cut it. They are razor sharp in their perceptions of people and shockingly trusting after our first week together.
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    They both have hearts bigger than their bodies and patient wisdom in how they act with other animals and people.
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    They are just phenomenal, exceptional angels. There's not another way to put it. Once I brought them home they were soon sponsored by my local animal shelter as I fostered them, but it took a while to find their forever homes with a few tries for each of them not being endgame.
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  • It's easy to give advice, but the hardest thing to do is to take your own. Why? We're not therapists, but we think it has to do with change. It's easy to see how making a change can be better for someone else, but to actually be the one making the change takes courage to leave what is comfortable, even if it's not good for you. But oftentimes, we connect with things because we feel a kinship to them, and by helping them heal themselves, you can actually heal the part of you that's hurting as well. We're not so different, in the end.

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    Until right after Christmas, Daisy (cattle dog) found her home, and in late January, East (shepherd, now named Max) found his.
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    They went to the PERFECT homes for them. They found the families that were waiting for them here.
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    The people who needed THEM and all of their quirks and eccentricities and precious "imperfections" in their lives.
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    There were Daisy and Max sized holes in their families lives, and they filled them up just right.
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    I won't go into detail about their new lives, because it's not my story to tell.
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    BUT. There was something otherworldly at work on that trip, and it culminated with these pups finally finding the people they'd been yearning for, who'd been looking for them too.
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    Hailey passed in November, she never got to see her girls. I promised her she would and I still sting thinking about it.
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    I do feel comfort in knowing that Daisy has her own girl now, and Max has his boy.
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    I feel comfort in knowing two dogs who were thrown away are cherished now like they should be, and that they will never be cold or hungry or scared again.
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    I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for being put in the exact right spot to deliver them to their new lives.
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    Thank you Hailey, thank you Daisy and Max. I'll never forget you.
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highway broken heart doggos rescue dogs forever home dog lovers animals Dog Rescue lucky
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