It’s unbelievable how some people can heartlessly abandon their dogs, mercilessly throwing them out to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, that was the story of Cupid — he watched as his family packed, loaded boxes into their car and drove away. He was unsure of what was happening, or why he was left alone.

Cupid did know one thing, this was his place of home, so he hoped if he waited long enough, his family would return and rescue him. At first Cupid tried everything he could to call his humans. He wept for hours and desperately scratched the door, begging to be let in, but it came to no avail.

The local neighbors called Janine Guido, founder of Speranza Animal Rescue, to report a dog sleeping on the porch of a house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“All I was told was that his owners moved out and left him behind,” Guido told The Dodo. “I asked multiple other people if they knew anything about the dog and they just said, ‘They moved out.’”

During this time Cupid had adapted to the stray life and Guido spotted him eating out of the dumpster. When she tried to approach him, Cupid bolted back to his safe place, frantically jumping and searching at his door — begging to be let back in. This desperate cry for help shattered Guido’s heart.

After 30 minutes of trying to earn Cupid’s trust, in any way known to her, Guido finally succeeded by calmly telling him that everything is going to be OK. As strange as it sounds, as soon as Cupid heard these words, he slowly neared the lady, sat down, let her leash him, and calmly jumped into her car.

“It sounds dumb but I swear he knew what I was saying to him,” Guido said. “He literally came over and sat down and allowed me to leash him.”

Since arriving at the rescue, Cupid is slowly getting used to his new surroundings. He has been nothing but a good boy to all the staff. Guido mentioned he still seems really confused, but he’s very happy to meet everyone and always wagging his big tail.

Cupid will start the search for his forever home once all his vet checkups have been completed. Guido is feeling optimistic that Cupid’s luck is about to change very soon. As he’s already shown his loyalty when he was willing to wait for a family that abandoned him.