Curious, I wiped the dirt off the tag and saw a single word engraved: “Hope.” That hit me hard. Someone had cared about this puppy once. It wasn’t just a group of strays—it was a story I didn’t know yet.

I decided right then to get them checked at the local vet. As the pups were examined, I asked about the collar, hoping for answers. The vet scanned each puppy for a microchip, and to my surprise, the one named Hope had a registered number. Within minutes, the vet’s assistant was able to trace it to a family that had reported their puppy missing after a storm two weeks earlier.