When this man looked outside his home, the last thing he expected to see was a dog tied to the steps. He quickly went outside to check on the animal and found a note tucked under his doormat, and what the note said surprised him.
Justin Hanley lives in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. He wanted some fresh air in his home, so he opened the blinds in his living room only to see a black pitbull puppy abandoned on his doorsteps one day in October 2017.
He stepped outside to find the young puppy’s leash tied onto the rails and a plastic bag filled with three slices of half-eaten pizza left beside the animal, most likely for the puppy to eat.
As he scanned around, he saw a note left under his doormat. The note read:
“Please take me home.
I’m a girl named Diamond.
We can no longer keep her in our home.
Thank you.”
Hanley and his wife brought the scared puppy inside and gave her some food and water.
The Hanleys at that time already had their hands full raising two young children and Beefy, their Jack Russell mix, so it was not possible to adopt another pet.
Hanley was quick to share an update with the community so members wouldn’t be concerned anymore. He wrote: “UPDATE: glad to report Diamond has found a home. Thanks for all the advice/messages. Faith in humanity restored.”
The foster home Diamond went to was an amazing family of nine dogs, seven pygmy goats, and some horses. Diamond was renamed Serenity by his foster dad, Chris King, a retired Army special officer, because he wanted to match all his other dogs who were named after Greek and Roman gods, such as Jupiter, Chaos, and Hades.
“Serenity is the goddess of the moon and it means ‘untroubled,’” King told The Dodo. “Once she was with DBU, I knew she would remain untroubled for the rest of her life.”
Serenity quickly adapted to the new environment and bonded well with King’s other canines. Alluding to Serenity’s characteristics, King said, “Serenity is such a sweetheart and such a loving dog.”He further added, “She has a great temperament towards other animals and with people.”
After living for seven months with King, in May 2018, Serenity was adopted by a nice family. However, just a few days later, the new family who adopted her started noticing changes in her behavior.
King said, “She started to get a little snappy or growling at people and dogs. There were no other dogs in that home and I knew she was just acting out since she wasn’t with my pack anymore. She spent seven months with nine dogs so she developed a bond.”
King then welcomed her back to his house, and Serenity officially became a permanent member of their house ever since. King said, “We love her so much and were secretly happy that her adoption failed because we knew she was part of our family.”
King also had a message to the former owners who had abandoned Serenity. He said: “They abandoned a great, sweet, loving dog that brings smiles to many people’s faces now.”
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