Man Wakes Up And Finds A Stray Dog in His Living Room
Jack Jokinen expected a normal 4 a.m. wake-up call, not a mystery dog in his living room. With a 1-month-old baby in the house, sleep was already scarce, but this was something else entirely.
His wife spotted the stray first, and soon Jokinen was downstairs trying to figure out how a small lab mix had gotten inside with every door and window shut. The answer turned out to be a loose front door, a windy night, and a very lucky dog named Suzy.
What started as a strange middle-of-the-night surprise quickly turned into a rescue story with a viral ending. Read on.
He reviewed the security camera footage and saw himself returning from a walk with his 2-year-old dog, George, the night before. They came inside, and Jokinen closed the front door, but it didn’t latch. That allowed the door to blow wide open when strong winds struck later that night.
“Then at 3:16, on the camera, we can see the dog, whom we’ve named Suzy, coming down the street. She stops outside our house,” Jokinen said. “She was out in the rain and cold, and she kind of hesitated before going into the house.”
That's when the mystery started to make sense.
Here is Suzy going up the stairs.
About 30 minutes later, a man passed by the house and noticed the door was open. He took a look inside to see if everything was all right and closed the door. That was probably the reason why Suzy stayed the night: “He didn’t know there was a dog in the house that wasn’t ours.”
This is a video from that night.
Jokinen and his wife dried the dog and did their best to make her comfortable. They considered calling animal control but changed their minds because they assumed that the dog would not benefit from entering the system: "She was emaciated, her teeth were in poor condition, and she was only walking on three legs with no collar," Jokinen said. "We thought, 'If we just drop this dog off, who knows what will happen?'"
They decided to take Suzy to the vet, where they discovered, much to their surprise, that this "puppy" was, in fact, about nine years old. Suzy had dental issues, a paw infection, and was covered with fleas and ticks. Nevertheless, the couple agreed to keep her.
And if you’re thinking about heartbreak turning into relief, watch the man reunite with his beloved dog.
"We decided that of all the bad things that could happen by leaving your door open in the middle of winter in a major city, ending up with a sweet dog who has come off the street ... We have to at least give this a try," Jokinen says.
Jokinen posted Suzy's photo, and it quickly went viral. The family received $15,000 in donations to help cover the senior dog's medical expenses.
He was even able to find the man who thoughtfully closed his door that night.
A simple photo turned into a wave of help.
Suzy is happy now.
Now, Suzy is warm, well-fed, and safe. She has finally found a home.
"We're able to do all this in large part thanks to the generosity of the internet," Jokinen says. "In a way, this isn't our dog - it's the internet's dog."
Suzy's luck changed in the middle of the night.
Want more chaos from a dog’s escape, check out the woman who found her apartment ransacked after her dog slipped out.
Share this article:
