It was raining outside when Ubaldo Apolinar heard scratching at his door.
But it wasn’t his dog who was trying to get inside and out of the wet weather.
It was someone else’s dog. The tiny beige puppy was shivering in a corner desperately trying to get out of the rain.
The puppy was a little scared of Apolinar at first and backed herself into the corner.
But she eventually let him pet her.
The dog was wearing a pink collar, so it obviously belonged to someone.
“I had no idea where she came from, but I really wanted to find her owners,” Apolinar told The Dodo. “Being a dog owner myself, I would want someone else to do the same.”
While he wanted to bring the puppy inside, he wasn’t able to.
His landlord only allows one pet per house. Since they have a dog named Rocky, Apolinar’s parents were fearful of breaking the rules.
So, he brought some food outside for her in the corner where she was away from the rain.
He also made her a makeshift house where she could be warm and feel cozy.
Then the teen started his search. He started joining some local community Facebook groups and posted pictures of the puppy, asking if anyone knew its owners.
Apolinar didn’t feel comfortable letting the puppy sleep outside, so he snuck her in, in the middle of the night.
Apolinar decided to take the dog to the vet to be checked for a microchip.
But before he did that, the dog’s owner messaged him on Facebook.
Apolinar checked her social media page and passed by her house in order to confirm that she was the dog’s actual owner.
And he confirmed that she was.
So, he set up a time to return the dog. Apolinar played with the dog in his yard one last time before dropping her off.
He became a little attached to her and would have loved to keep her, but he knew that reuniting her with her family was the right thing to do.
It was obvious that these were the dog’s owners by the puppy’s reaction to seeing them again.
She jumped up and happily ran around in circles. That’s when Apolinar learned that the dog’s name was Bubba.
Then came the time for Apolinar to say goodbye to his new friend.
“She was very fun to hang out with. She was very spunky and adorable, and she was very, very fun to be around. I kind of miss her, but I know it [bringing her home] was the right thing to do,” Apolinar said.
According to American Humane, you should basically do everything that Apolinar did when you find a dog that’s lost.
Post the photos online and make your post public.
Take it to be scanned for a microchip if you can. You might also want to consider reaching out to the local animal control or animal shelter to see if the owner contacted them.
Learn more about Bubba’s story, which has more than 3 million views, in the video below.
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