When Suzette Hall heard about a tiny dog left tied to a fire hydrant in a Southern California community, she was heartbroken but, unfortunately, not surprised. As the founder of Logan’s Legacy dog rescue, Hall had recently saved a handful of dogs from that very street, and this pup was yet another abandoned by her family.

Her previous owners left behind a container of food and water, but, according to the person who called, the dog hadn’t touched them. Instead, she stayed curled up in a tight ball, from which she rarely unfurled.

Hall wanted to rescue the dog herself, but she couldn’t get there fast enough. So, she reached out to someone in the neighborhood for immediate help.

“I called this woman I know who lives right by there and asked her to please go get the pup,” Hall told The Dodo.

The neighbor dropped what she was doing and made her way over to the street corner. Sure enough, she found an 8-month-old puppy, later named Cici, tethered to the hydrant.

“She was just twisting and twisting around that hydrant with her leash,” Hall said. “The poor dog was all tied up.”

Cici growled as the woman knelt down to untangle her leash, unsure of what was happening. But, with Hall’s guidance on the phone, the woman won the dog’s trust and successfully unraveled her from her post.

The woman used a soft blanket to scoop Cici up and cradled her for a moment before placing her in the car. As they rushed to the vet, the dog’s health started to decline.

“She got so sick in the car,” Hall said. “We think it was from fear and lack of food and water since she was too scared to eat the food they’d left.”

Luckily, Cici got to Camino Pet Hospital just in time. After some fluids and a ton of much-needed love, Cici started to feel a lot better.

“They monitored her, then, all of a sudden, she was fine,” Hall said. “She finally started perking up.”

At the hospital, Cici made a lot of new friends, but one in particular made her tail wag extra fast: Hedy Herold, Camino Pet Hospital’s office manager.

“Whenever Hedy walks by her, Cici starts wiggling her tail,” Hall said. “She gets so excited because she knows it’s Hedy.”

Since she’s been at Camino Pet Hospital, Cici’s spent nearly every day curled up in Hedy’s arms, waiting for a clean bill of health before starting her next chapter.

Thankfully, the pup was recently cleared for foster care and will be leaving the clinic to meet her new, temporary family soon. Cici’s excited to finally have a home, but she’s still on the search for a forever kind of love.

Hall can’t wait to find the perfect adoptive family for Cici soon. It’s hard to believe what Cici went through before being rescued, but Hall can tell that the little, resilient puppy has recovered just fine.

“She’s just so happy,” Hall said. “She’s as sweet as can be.”