The report described an “aggressive dog” on a cold, isolated road. When the officer arrived and laid eyes on him…

He stayed still in the icy drift, too weak—or too afraid—to move.

Officer Matt Kade was nearing the end of a grueling ten-hour winter shift when dispatch reported an “aggressive, potentially dangerous dog” lingering along an abandoned service road.

Kade braced for snarls and bared teeth. What he found instead was heartache. Nestled against a snowbank was a dog so thin that his bones seemed to hold him together more than his flesh. A heavy spiked collar dangled loosely around his neck, and frostbite and infection had turned his face into a painful, raw map.

The dog couldn’t rise. He shivered violently, eyes wide with a fear born from a life without kindness.

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