Earlier this month, a severe winter storm passed through Kansas City, blanketing the area with inches of snow and record frigid temperatures. As the storm raged outside, an elderly Kansas City resident was awoken at 4 a.m. on January 5 by the sound of barking outside his front door.
Confused about why there would be a dog out so late, he went outside to investigate, and what he saw broke his heart. Trapped in a cage under the snow, there was a freezing, terrified dog.
The man wasn’t physically capable of moving the dog himself, so he called KC Pet Project for help. Angel, an animal services officer, drove for over an hour through ice and low visibility to come save the pup.
“When I got there, I could see her shivering, but when she saw me, her tail wagged so hard it shook the crate,” Angel said in a KC Pet Project Facebook post.
Angel quickly got the dog warmed up and whisked her away to the shelter.
“[Angel] called the man who had reported the situation to let him know the dog was safe,” KC Pet Project wrote. “When expressing his gratitude, he even got a little choked up and shared how he believed a divine intervention woke him up to save her.”
Upon arriving at the shelter, the pup was spayed and got surgery for her cherry eyes. Shortly after, she was transferred to Missouri Pit Bull Rescue.
“Amazingly, she was in really great health,” Jennifer Roos, volunteer adoption counselor at Missouri Pit Bull Rescue, told The Dodo.
The shelter volunteers decided to name the pup Blair, after the winter storm she was rescued from. After they’d already decided on the name, they learned that Angel, the officer who’d saved the pup, happened to have a daughter named Blair.
When Katie Kramer, foster volunteer with the rescue, came across the photo of Blair left out in the snow, she just knew she had to be the one to take Blair home and shower her with love.
Even though Blair has suffered immensely at the hands of humans, she’s still an incredibly trusting, loving dog.
“Her favorite place to be is almost inside her foster mom’s body,” Roos said. “She snuggles so hard.”
Kramer has been fostering Blair for the past two weeks. In that time, Blair has made herself right at home.
“Over the last couple weeks, this little champ has definitely come out of her shell,” Kramer told The Dodo. “She’s Ms. Personality, who is obsessed with my dog, Lorax, loves every person she meets and is trying really hard to win my cat, Idgie, over.”
Blair is available for adoption through Missouri Pit Bull Rescue anytime. After everything she’s been through, she deserves a loving permanent home. If you’re interested in adopting her, you can submit an application here. She would do great in a household with another dog, but might be too energetic for families with young children.
“Sometimes, when we’re all snuggled up on the couch, I think about how she was found, and it makes me really sad, because Blair loves to be warm, dry and to not feel alone,” Kramer said. “I want the very best life for Blair.”