Elderly Man Hears Puppy’s Cries And Finds Her Abandoned In A Crate During A Blizzard

In early January, during the worst winter storm Kansas City had seen this season, an elderly man was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of a crying puppy outside his apartment window. He was confused as to why a dog would be barking at 4 a.m., let alone outside in heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures. When he went to look, he was startled by what he saw – crouched inside a locked metal crate on the sidewalk was a small, shivering dog.

The man couldn’t bring the dog inside himself, so he immediately called KC Pet Project, an animal shelter in the city. They sent out an on-call officer from their Animal Services Division.

Animal services field supervisor Angelina “Angel” Bryant “braved the freezing cold and treacherous conditions to rescue a dog in need” KC Pet Project shared in a post on Facebook. That entailed an extra effort to actually get out because the shelter’s gates were frozen shut due to the extreme cold. But that didn’t deter Angel, who climbed over the gates and got into her own car to go rescue the dog.

“When I got there, I could see her shivering, but when she saw me, her tail wagged so hard it shook the crate,” said Angel, per the shelter’s Facebook post.

“[The dog] was pacing, it was cold — shivering,” she later said in an interview with KCTV 5. “How can someone do this? I don’t understand. You don’t know the circumstances, you don’t know what’s going through someone’s mind, but I don’t understand how someone could leave a dog in that type of condition.”

When Angel got back to KC Pet Project’s shelter, she called the Good Samaritan to give him an update on the dog.

“[Angel] called the man who had reported the situation to let him know the dog was safe,” KC Pet Project wrote. “When expressing his gratitude, he even got a little choked up and shared how he believed a divine intervention woke him up to save her.”

The team made the small dog comfortable and warmed her up. They noticed she had cherry eyes that needed treatment, so she was spayed and underwent corrective surgery. KC Pet Project then reached out to Missouri Pit Bull Rescue to help find Blair a home. Missouri Pit Bull Rescue wrote, “Thanks to the gentleman and the animal control officer, the sweet lil pup was saved, and we couldn’t say anything but yes when they reached out for her to come to our program!”

They named the dog Blair, after the winter storm she was found in. In a curious twist of fate, they later learned that Angel’s daughter’s name is also Blair!

Blair is now in a foster home, and Missouri Pit Bull Rescue shared, “Blair is excelling in foster care. She’s had a rocky start but is all smiles now.”

Blair’s personality is beginning to shine with her foster family. Missouri Pit Bull Rescue wrote, “Blair is truly a bright light! She is the sweetest and silliest girl! She is still a puppy and can get rambunctious at times, but she is easily corrected and very eager to please. She is wonderfully balanced between being playful and wanting to relax and snuggle up! Blair seems to have never met a stranger—she loves every person she meets and wants to be everyone’s bestie.”

They continued, “After what she’s been through, it’s pretty incredible to see how trusting and loving this little short-stack is. Blair loves to go for car rides, she was a dream at her vet appointment, and has charmed all the MPR volunteers that she’s met! She loves to play play play with her foster brother dog and desperately wants to be friends with the cat in her foster home. She knows how to sit and lay down and is working on a few more commands. Blair is smart and very food motivated so it’s really fun to work with her on learning new things!”

Blair is now up for adoption and for more information on her, or to apply for Blair, please visit the Missouri Pit Bull Rescue website.