We had just lost our two wonderful family members, Suie and Boomer, litter mates and lifelong companions. Suie had cancer, and when she passed, Boomer seemed to loose the will to live, following his sister soon afterward, leaving us feeling lost and lonely.

Our daughter called us up and asked what she could do with a dog she found, telling us that she went to the dumpster to toss her trash, when something underneath it caught her eye. She'd thought it was a kitten, and returned with a handful of cat food.

PHOTO: PEXELS

A tiny head poked out, huge dark eyes watching her as it gobbled up the food then disappeared again. It took her two days to get her hands on the animal, and she was shocked to find out it wasn't a kitten but a tiny dog.

The only question that remained was how this tiny little thing got into the dumpster in the first place. We could only imagine the dog was thrown away just like a piece of garbage. Thankfully, she saw the value in this tiny little dog and took her to safety.

She was on her way over to see us, before she dropped by the shelter to leave the dog, but it took us about a nanosecond to fall in love with that smelly, grubby little dog, and I think we would have put up a fight if she'd tried to take him from us.

A week later, after a visit to the vet, several baths and a steady stream of healthy food, Fred became the dog he was meant to be. Barking, bossy, trotting round the house as if he'd been here forever, and totally fascinating our two Rat Terriers, Spike and Sweet Thing.

PHOTO: Glynis

He is, our vet says, Half Chihuahua, half Yorkie, which she says, makes him a "Chorkie" but to us, he is just three pounds of love, larger than life personality, and the leader of our pack.

Story submitted by Glynis of Cypress, Texas.

Fred's story was originally shared on theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com. Share your very own rescue story here!