Touching footage shows abandoned dog chasing down car to be rescued

By Jamie Smith via SWNS

This touching footage shows the moment a tiny, abandoned dog chased down a car begging to be rescued.

Traveling couple Martina Russo and partner Fil were driving their van through the countryside near Moclin, Spain when they noticed a small dog relentlessly chasing them.

They thought the Shorkie was just playing, but after a while they spotted the desperation in her run as if she was begging for them to stop.

Martina, originally from Milan, Italy, said: “We were driving in the middle of the Spanish countryside and suddenly this dog appeared out of nowhere and started chasing our car.

“We thought it was just a game, but soon realized something wasn’t right because she was running fast and would not stop.

“So we started questioning, what’s this dog doing here in the middle of absolute nowhere?"

The couple pulled over and the grateful pup, who had overgrown fur, gunky eyes and was covered in ticks, leaped into their arms.

Martina and Fil gave the emaciated dog food and water before taking her to the local villages to search in vain for an owner.

"We stopped and gave her some water, took her in the car and went to all the nearest villages within a 12km range to ask if anyone knew her," Martina said.

“Then we asked all the farmers around and the local shelter but no one knew her. We also checked every house and farm in the area, but most of them were abandoned.

“We drove back and put her back in the road to see if she was just chasing for fun and knew where to walk back. But she kept chasing us - our van was just around the corner and we drove very slowly to make sure she wasn’t stressed.

“She ran after us where we had parked our van in a popular local hotspot and met our cats - who were not too thrilled to see her - also because she was super excited to see them and wanted to play and chase around them.

They decided to keep the dog and named her Moxie after a detailed online search failed to find her owner.

Martina said: “We decided to keep her until we would find her owners, gave her a bath, and found her covered in crawling ticks and had her sleep in the front of the van, separate from the cats.

“We took her to the vets the next days and turns out she was not chipped, not spayed, female, about one-year-old, fur very overgrown and full of gunk around the eyes.

“We kept on searching for her owners in local Facebook and WhatsApp groups, local passersbys at the fountain, shops, regional Facebook groups etc. Weeks went by and no one came forward, so we decided to keep her."

Now the dog that nobody wanted is happy and loved in her new life on the road. Moxie travels with her loving owners and new cat friends as they sight-see all over Europe.

“She’s very sweet and funny, very playful, loves our cats - to be fair she loves everything and everyone! (especially cats and kids)," Martina said.

"We love taking her on adventures and she makes us laugh every day.

“Moxie lives in a van with us most of the year, so she comes with us on long hikes in the mountains or when we go climbing. Every day is a new adventure for Moxie now.”