A teacher has shared the inspiring story of how she rescued a stray dog that had been shot after she discovered it on her patio in the middle of the night thanks to its glistening eyes.
Brooklyn Henderson, 35, from Bossier Parish, Louisiana, was heading out to her car in total darkness when she heard a rustling in the ferns at the back of her patio.
Used to seeing wild animals around her home, she decided to take out her cell phone to record what she expected to be a raccoon.
She first saw two glistening eyes appear out of the darkness as a black dog tentatively approached.
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A dog’s eyes glow in the dark due to a reflective layer in the back of the eye called the tapetum lucidum. This layer reflects light onto the retina, which helps dogs see better in low light.
Brooklyn said the dog was dirty, covered in fleas and looked rather skinny, and she assumed the pooch had been outside for a while.
She decided to feed the dog outside for the next week, as she did not want to entice someone else’s pet into her home.
But after the dog didn’t leave – and having asked around to see if anyone knew the dog or its owners – she decided to take her rescue efforts further, encouraging the dog she had named Birdy, inside.
Birdy was sheepish initially, hiding under steps and other objects until she felt comfortable.
Brooklyn later had Birdy checked out and discovered the sad news she had a BB gun pellet lodged in the skin of her chest, which may have been linked to her leaving her previous home or life as a stray.
Eventually, Birdy took to enthusiastically greeting Brooklyn and her sons every day, as well as befriending the family’s other dog, Cash, a miniature Australian shepherd.
Now, that greeting routine sees Birdy go “boneless” with excitement, curling up in the family’s arms as they give their “soul dog” a much-needed hug.
Brooklyn shared Birdy’s journey on social media, where viewers praised her rescue efforts and how it was fate the pair found each other.
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She said: “I was completely surprised – I walked outside to get something out of my car and heard rustling in one of the two macho ferns I keep on my back patio.
“I live in the country, so I’ve seen all kinds of wild animals out there, and took out my phone because I was thinking, if this is a raccoon or something, I’ll need to identify whatever bit me at the hospital later.
“I’m not sure how long she’d been out there for, but she was very dirty. She had fleas and looked a little skinny.
“I much later found a metal BB (ball bearing) lodged in the skin of her chest.”
Brooklyn assumed she’d been outside for a little while, but this was the first time she’d seen her.
She added: “She’d greet me and the boys at my car every day after school.
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“I’d think, ‘Ok she’s still not gone home. Dang, surely someone is going to come looking for her.’
“I asked around and knocked on doors – all in the hope of trying to find her owner, but that turned up nothing.
“Every single day, she’d greet me at my car door and just wanted me or one of my kids to pick her up.
“She’d go ‘boneless,’ and we’d just hold her, just like a little baby.
“She would fall asleep next to me, or I’d find her curled up at the end of one of my kids’ beds.
“She’d fall asleep in my lap, and one day I just knew I couldn’t let her go.
“She needs us. She chose us.”