Bin Diesel

A call for help

Somewhere 250 miles (400 km) from us, a puppy was in distress. We learned about him through an emergency call, and the caller said he had been crying out in pain for days. It was a long way to go for a puppy we had never seen, but we set out to find him.

• Watch the rescue · 10:01

Stuck in the trash

We searched all day long. Then, finally, we found him. He was lying in the trash with half of his body inside a trash bag, helpless and unable to move, and he had been stuck there for three days. Only one of us was there, and our rescuer rushed straight to him and lifted him out.

• Watch this moment · 0:31

Barely able to drink

Out of the trash, he was filthy and shaking all over, and we saw that he could not move his lower left leg. We gave him water first, because he was dehydrated and had likely gone days without it, but he barely had the strength to drink. He was starving as well, and all we had with us were a few treats, though they were enough to give him a little energy.

• Watch this moment · 1:35

Asleep on our lap

Then we started the long way home. We did not know whether his mother had left him or someone had thrown him away, and we asked ourselves why a puppy so small should have such a hard life. Three hours later we were halfway home, and he was still shaking and scared. Even so, his eyes kept closing, and to our surprise he was soon asleep on our lap, in some very funny positions.

• Watch this moment · 3:14

A shower before bed

When we finally got home, we offered him water again, but he was no longer thirsty. What he needed was a shower: he had fleas and was covered in his own waste, and when we washed him, he liked the water. Clean at last, he went to bed. He was not yet two months old, still a baby, and the next morning a king's breakfast was waiting for him.

• Watch this moment · 4:34

Good news about his leg

Our next stop was the vet, for a check-up and a turn on the scale. When we found him, he could not move his lower left leg, and we could not be sure what the examination would show. The news was good. All was well with the leg, and it would heal.

• Watch this moment · 7:55

His first walk

Then it was time for his first walk ever. Not long before, we had found him stuck in the trash, unable to move, and now he was out on the grass with his nose to the ground, still no bigger than a shoe. He also met the youngest member of our team so far, a baby like himself, and there was a great deal of tail wagging. More play followed, and before long he had company of his own.

• Watch this moment · 8:31

A family of his own

In the end, he was adopted. Bin Diesel, as we had called him, has a family of his own now, and they named him Thunder. The puppy who barely had the strength to drink on the day we found him, and who fell asleep on our lap on the long drive home, has since grown up.