“We forget sometimes the difference we can make in someone’s life. She reminded me of this.”
At 8 months old, Lana is still very much a puppy — but she knows better than most just how important it is to be kind.
Lana lives in Brazil, where she was rescued from the streets with her siblings late last year. Not long after, she was adopted by Suelen Schaumloeffel and her fiancé, settling in to her happy new life as a cherished pet. But despite now having all the love and affection a pup could hope for, Lana clearly hasn’t forgotten what it’s like for dogs who don’t.
The weather has been rather chilly in their region recently, so this week Schaumloeffel bought a thicker blanket to ensure Lana stayed warm and cozy in her doghouse out front. Little did she know, however, after tucking Lana in for the night on Monday evening, that the puppy would soon forgo a little of her own comfort for the sake of a new friend.
On Tuesday morning, when Schaumloeffel’s fiancé stepped out to head to work, he discovered that Lana had dragged the blanket outside to share it with another dog who apparently lives on the streets.
Schaumloeffel says she’d actually seen that other dog for the first time near their house the day before. She wasn’t sure if he was a stray, though; he’d run away when she tried to approach him to check for an ID tag. But Lana had made his acquaintance, it seems, and decided to help him.
“I thought, ‘How beautiful what she did for her friend,'” Schaumloeffel tells The Dodo. “My best four-legged friend reminded me of something so important: generosity!”
Since then, Schaumloeffel and her fiancé have seen the dog around intermittently, but he still runs away whenever they try to get close. They’re hoping that, if he’s lost, they can help him find his way back home. In the meantime, they’ve been leaving out food and water for him.
After all, that’s what Lana would do if she could.
“She is the nicest little dog I’ve ever met,” Schaumloeffel says. “We forget sometimes the difference we can make in someone’s life. She reminded me of this.”