Headed home one recent afternoon after picking up her daughter from summer school, Amanda Leifeste gazed out her car’s front window and noticed something unusual. There was a cardboard box abandoned by the side of the road with something sticking out of it.

At first, Leifeste, an animal lover and transport driver for Amazing Mutts Puppy Rescue, thought the object might be a piece of trash. But as she got closer, Leifeste realized with horror that it wasn’t trash at all.

“There was something black hanging over the side,” Leifeste told The Dodo. “When I began to drive by, I realized it was not a bag, but a puppy.”

Leifeste jumped out of the car and walked over to the box. Inside, she found a pile of 8-week-old puppies.

“[They] were hot, panting and crying,” Leifeste said. “I was shaking so bad I had to remind myself to take a deep breath.”

Leifeste grabbed the box and brought it inside her car, where her daughter was waiting. She turned the air conditioning on full blast, hoping to help the puppies cool down. Then, she headed straight for a local vet’s office, where staff members immediately made sure the pups were comfortable.

“Once they were put into the kennel, where it was cool with airflow, they immediately laid down and you could see their little bodies relax,” Leifeste said.

Eventually, rescuers split the pups into groups and transported them to foster homes. In time, the dogs began to adapt to a life of love.

“[The] puppies were nervous at first,” a representative from Amazing Mutts told The Dodo. “[But] now, after a few days, they[‘ve] opened up and [they] act like normal, playful puppies.”

Safe with people who have their best interests at heart, these puppies can expect a much easier road from here on out.