Last week, on a scorching-hot day in Tennessee, Kaye Fiorello was driving down a highway when she saw a highway patrol officer parked just off the road. She didn’t think much of it at the time — but it turned out to be a very good thing to notice.

Continuing on her way, Fiorello then spotted something else that did give her pause.

“About a mile up the road, this little dog’s head popped up on the side of the road,” Fiorello told The Dodo. “She looked like she’d been there for some time.”

Fiorello wanted to get help for the stranded pup — and she knew exactly where to find it.

Kaye Fiorello

Thinking back to the officer she’d seen, Fiorello turned her car around and headed back the way she’d come. She pulled up alongside side the officer and told him about the dog — not realizing then, with that exchange, she’d change both of their lives forever.

“He asked where [she was], and took off after her,” Fiorello said. “I followed him, pointing out the area.”

Arriving to the spot, they noticed that the dog appeared to be injured and scared. She was wary of the officer’s approach at first, but he brought her water and food in an attempt to earn her trust. But he didn’t stop there.

After calling for help from animal control, he sat by the pup’s side — holding an umbrella to shield her from the blazing sun.

Seeing his dedication to the dog, Fiorello was deeply touched.

“He told me, ‘I’m going to sit right here until she trusts me,’” Fiorrello said, adding that the dog seemed to sense the trooper’s kind heart. “She seemed to breathe a happy dog sigh. And those doe eyes — the difference was night and day. They connected. It was powerful. I was crying some happy tears for that girl.”

And this connection, it turns out, wouldn’t be a fleeting one.

Tennessee Highway Patrol

Fiorello had to continue on her way before backup arrived, but she later came to learn that the dog was successfully rescued and taken to the vet for treatment. She was suffering from a broken hip — but it wasn’t something she’d have to face alone.

The officer would be by her side for that part, too.

A week after the pup had been found on the roadside, injured and alone, she found herself a home. The officer decided to keep her forever.

“Adopted! He got her today!” Fiorello said. “Her name is Princess, and she will go home from the vet in a couple, maybe two, weeks.”

Kaye Fiorello

For Fiorello, whose instinct to get help for the injured pup culminated in the pup’s whole world changing forever, Princess’s happy ending couldn’t have been more perfect.

“It was like it was meant to be,” she said.