‘Miracle’ Dog Rescued After Hurricane Dorian Settles in with Adoptive Family

A dog that spent three weeks buried under the rubble left behind by Hurricane Dorian is now thriving with his new family in Florida.

When Miracle was found pinned underneath an air conditioning unit and other heavy debris on Great Abaco in the Bahamas, his rescuers were amazed he lived through such a terrifying ordeal, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The dog survived by lapping up the rainwater that had pooled around him.

The article continued:

Emaciated, anemic and riddled with parasites, he was too weak to stand. He was flown to Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee, which in all evacuated nearly 200 dogs from the island. At Big Dog, staff spent five weeks getting Miracle strong enough for adoption.

This week, Miracle weighed in at 40 pounds, more than double what he weighed in the beginning.

In November, the dog was adopted by the Beaty family, who lives in Palm Beach County and has three daughters, Jayne, 8, Kate, 5, and Clare, 3.

“I think we picked each other,” the girl’s mom, Briana, said at the time. Now, the family cannot imagine their life without him.

“He is so sweet. His favorite place to sleep is in a sort of hug with my middle daughter,” Briana commented.

However, she also said they are helping Miracle work through some problems caused by his traumatic experience.

“We feed him a special food because his tummy is really, really sensitive. Changing his food made a huge difference,” she commented.

Briana also noted that Miracle requires special attention because loud noises and other dogs cause him to be fearful.

Despite those issues, he has settled into their family life well and has even visited each of the girl’s classrooms.

“If a kid walked by and didn’t pet him, he would sit down, like: ‘I’ll give you another chance if you want to come back. Perhaps you didn’t see me,’” Briana said.

“He really came out of his shell. It was the first time we really got to see his personality.”

Now, the Beaty family hopes Miracle’s story will inspire others to give rescue dogs a second chance at life.

“Our greatest joy is when we take Miracle places and people tell us how his story impacted them,” Briana said.

“We’ll hear they were thinking of [buying] a golden-doodle from Wisconsin or wherever and instead they decided to adopt a rescue dog. I hope lots of people go and get a little Miracle of their own,” she said.