A few weeks ago, Marty McAdams was enjoying a quiet Saturday at home when his neighbor called with a puzzling message:
“She said, ‘You need to come get your puppy out of my yard,’” McAdams told The Dodo.
Confused, he looked down — his 80-pound golden retriever, Cammie, was fast asleep beside him.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about?’” he recalled.
When McAdams walked next door, he was stunned by what he found.
Sitting inside a plastic storage bin was a tiny 4-week-old puppy, trembling and wide-eyed. Someone had placed a few dog supplies in with her — and then walked away.
“She was just sitting there, looking up at us,” McAdams said. “Her little foot was swollen and hurt. She was scared and didn’t know what was going on.”
After asking around on Facebook, the neighbors realized the heartbreaking truth: someone had dumped the puppy, now named Pebbles, over the fence into the yard.
“[It’s] a fenced backyard with a low gate,” McAdams said. “They just reached over, put her there, and left.”
By evening, the group had arranged a foster home for Pebbles through ThisIsHouston, a local animal rescue. But since her foster mom couldn’t pick her up until the next day, McAdams decided the little pup would spend the night with him and Cammie.
It wasn’t McAdams’ first rescue — he’s adopted eight dogs over the years, including Cammie, who had been saved from a puppy mill just three months earlier. Maybe that’s why Pebbles seemed to sense right away that she was safe.
“I probably sat on the couch and held her for four hours, off and on,” McAdams said. “She just didn’t want to be left alone. She cried and cried.”
When bedtime came, Pebbles whimpered in the cozy bed McAdams made for her. So he gently placed her beside Cammie, who wasn’t thrilled at first — but eventually let the tiny pup snuggle close and fall asleep.
By morning, Pebbles was calmer and curious about her new surroundings. She followed Cammie around the yard, took long naps, and even managed a few tail wags.
Later that day, her foster mom — a vet tech — arrived to take her home. Pebbles settled in quickly, playing with her new temporary sibling and getting treatment for her swollen paw.
“Pebbles is doing great now!” ThisIsHouston told The Dodo. “We aren’t sure what happened to her paw, but with medication, the swelling has gone down, and we’re just waiting for her hair to grow back.”
Now 7 weeks old, little Pebbles has blossomed into a happy, confident puppy — one who will never be left behind again.
Thanks to a kind neighbor and a community that refused to look away, she’s on her way to the loving forever home she deserves.
