The other day, a woman in Southern California was driving onto a highway entrance ramp when a black figure bolted out in front of her car. She couldn’t tell exactly who they were at first — all she could see was a coat of fur and four quickly moving legs. But then the animal looked at her, and the woman knew instantly that something was wrong.

Instead of a wild animal, the woman had found a small, terrified dog. She pulled over, but the pup dashed into the junkyard next to the highway. The woman had to go, but she made sure to call rescuer Suzette Hall for help before she left.

“I went out, but I couldn’t find the dog anywhere,” Hall, founder of Logan’s Legacy, told The Dodo. “So, I waited for a minute, and then I saw her.”

The dog, later named Raggedy Annie, appeared a few moments later.

“She would come out by the freeway and just sniff the ground like she was looking for food,” Hall said. “But there wasn’t any food, so she would go back into the junkyard and hide somewhere.”

Hall couldn’t figure out where Raggedy Annie was hiding, so she decided to place traps in a few different areas around the freeway and junkyard. She set each trap with high-value treats and waited again for the pup to emerge.

Hall retreated out of Raggedy Annie’s view and waited for the dog to take the bait. The rescuer waited down the street, and, a few moments later, she saw some movement in the distance.

“I couldn’t tell if it was her,” Hall said. “But after a minute, I looked up, and I could see this little furball inside the trap.”

Finally, Raggedy Annie was safe inside Hall’s trap. Hall rushed over to the dog to calm her nerves, assuming the sound of the trap closing had frightened her, but the pup was completely unfazed.

“When I got there, she was still eating,” Hall said. “It didn’t even faze her that she had been trapped. That’s how hungry she was.”

Raggedy Annie was covered in thick, matted fur. Hall tried to give the pup some affection, but she could tell that the pup was in pain.

“I remember touching her for the first time and it hurt because of all the mats,” Hall said. “It was the saddest thing.”

Hall took Raggedy Annie straight to the vet, where they ran medical tests and shaved off her dense, matted fur. The pup was defensive at first, but once they removed her coat, Raggedy Annie’s wariness went away completely.

“She wasn’t touchable at all at first,” Hall said. “But when she knew she was safe and once she got all those mats off, she just came out of her shell. She was ready to begin her new life.”

Raggedy Annie was given a clean bill of health a few days later, which meant she could finally go to a foster home. Before placing her in foster care, however, the vet team tried scanning the pup for a microchip. She’d become extremely affectionate over time, which made them think she could’ve had a family in the past.

“She was definitely loved at some time,” Hall said, “I just don’t know by whom.”

The vet team was unable to find a microchip, so they posted about her in several forums for lost pets. They waited and waited, but no one came forward to claim Raggedy Annie. So, the team found a loving foster family to care for her.

So far, the little pup has been doing great with her new family, but she’s still on the hunt for a forever home. Raggedy Annie’s life has changed a lot since she was roaming around the highway entrance ramp, but Hall knows that the best is still yet to come for her.

“The foster said she’s the sweetest dog,” Hall said. “Now she’s gonna be loved for sure.”