Two years ago, Tracey Ferrin received an unexpected call from her husband — he and his coworkers had found a stray dog wandering near their workplace.
“They gave the dog some water and food,” Ferrin, a digital creator and TikTok storyteller, told The Dodo. “They tried contacting animal shelters, but every one of them was full.”
Not wanting to leave the dog outside, her husband asked if he could bring him home — not just temporarily, but permanently.
“I said, ‘Absolutely, bring him home,’” Ferrin recalled. “In 20 years of marriage, he’s never been the one to bring home a pet.”
When the dog, later named Buddy, arrived, he was terrified to step indoors.
“He just froze,” Ferrin said. “It was like his paws didn’t know what they were touching. I don’t think he had ever been inside a house before.”
Determined to make him feel safe, Ferrin and her family moved gently and spoke softly. “We got down on the floor with him because we didn’t want to scare him,” she said.
To help him settle in, they gave Buddy a long, warm bath. “It lasted about 30 minutes,” Ferrin said. “We kept rinsing until we stopped seeing fleas come off him.”
Once clean, Buddy found comfort in an old kennel the family used for training their other dogs. “He stayed in there for days,” Ferrin explained. “We fed him in the kennel and kept the door open so he knew he could come out when he was ready.”
At first, their English bulldog, Sissy, wasn’t too sure about the newcomer — but soon, the two became best friends. Buddy also formed a strong bond with Ferrin’s teenage son, Noah.
“They really connected,” Ferrin said. “Once his fear faded, Buddy became so sweet and affectionate.”
The family knew Buddy had finally accepted his new life the day he cuddled up to Sissy on Ferrin’s bed. “They looked like they were hugging,” she said. “That was the moment I knew he felt at home.”
Today, Buddy is a confident, loving part of the family — surrounded by the people (and pups) who once gave him a second chance. “He’s just the best,” Ferrin said. “We can’t imagine life without him.”