By Rachael O'ConnorShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA man discovered a terrified lost dog while on a walk through the neighborhood, who had a complete personality change when he realized the man was trying to help him.
Rojan Khatri, 35, lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and explained to Newsweek that he was on a walk with his dogs to clear his head, while chatting to a friend on the phone, when he spotted the dog.
He later learned that that very same dog had been spotted two days earlier, lost and hungry-looking, in the same area. A local had shared a photo to Facebook asking if anyone owned him, but so far, no one had been able to catch him.
"I saw a very skinny dog at a distance. At first, I honestly thought it might be a coyote because of how thin it looked," he recalled to Newsweek. But he kept walking—and then realized the dog had been following him from a distance, almost all the way back home.
"I put my dogs inside and told my friend I would call back, because I needed to figure out if this was a lost dog," he said. It was at this point he went on Facebook, saw that the dog had been wandering the area for days, and went back outside armed with treats and a spare leash.
Khatri shared his interaction with the scared pup to his TikTok account, @_rozank_, on October 30, which has been viewed more than 600,000 times.
He wrote over the video: "I saw someone post about this pup on our neighborhood page about 48 hours ago. Nobody claimed him, so he's not from around here. I happened to spot him while walking my pups today."
The video showed a scared, lost-looking dog looking warily at Khatri as he tried to approach, speaking gently and holding out a treat.
And while he seemed interested in the treat, he was still extremely cautious—but as time passed, and Khatri left him a "trail of treats," he began to let his guard down, and even let the man pet him.
"You could tell he's been out here for a while," he wrote. "So skinny, but still gentle."
...The dog was still wary, but Khatri managed to get a leash around him—at which point an instant change came over the stray. Once attached to the leash, he became much more boisterous and alert, and walked well—as though he was used to being walked by a person.
He eagerly walked right into Khatri's home, his tail wagging, and ate and drank his fill, and lay quietly while Khatri cut out burrs from his fur.
"I don't know his story...but today, he got food, water, warmth and love," Khatri wrote over the video, and added in a caption that he was hoping to find the dog's original owner.
He told Newsweek: "All I could think about was helping the dog. The temperature was dropping and if it stayed out overnight, I did not know what might happen."
...His plan was only to bring the dog home, and hope he could find someone to help him, or look for the original owner, as he was unable to take in another dog himself.
"The Facebook post mentioned that several neighbors had already tried to lure the dog with treats, but it would not come to anyone," he explained. "I felt like I needed to try and help."
Khatri said it took up to 40 minutes to earn the dog's trust and get him into his home, and throughout it all, he was texting his neighbor, Sarah, "an amazing person who works with rescue dogs."
That night, after Khatri got the dog—who has been named Snoopy—settled, Sarah came over to give Snoopy a safe place to stay, and he has been with her since while they search for his original owner or a loving forever home.
TikTok users were in awe at the story, one pointing out: "The shift going from a scared dog on survival to a cute pet once the leash was on."
"He was so happy to be back on a leash and guided," another said. "He definitely belonged to someone. Hopefully they didn't just dump him."
And another called Khatri "an angel on earth, thank you so much."
However, Khatri himself, however, referred to Sarah as the "true superhuman," who is still taking care of Snoopy, along with other rescue dogs, until his permanent home is found.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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