Kaye Fiorello was traveling down a Tennessee highway on a burning hot day when she noticed a highway patrol officer parked just off the lane. She didn’t think much of it at the time, but it turned out to be an excellent observation.

Fiorello continued on her way when she noticed something else that made her stop.

“About a mile down the road, this little dog’s head popped up on the side of the road,” Fiorello told The Dodo. “She appeared to have been there for some time.

Fiorello wanted to aid the abandoned puppy, and she knew precisely where to look.

Fiorello turned her car around and drove back the way she’d come, remembering the officer she’d seen. She drove up behind the officer and told him about the dog, not understanding she’d changed both of their lives forever with one interaction.

“He asked where she was and ran after her,” Fiorello explained. “I followed after him, pointing out the area.”

When they arrived, they noted that the dog seemed to be injured and afraid. She was initially suspicious of the officer’s approach, but he offered her water and food in an effort to gain her trust. He didn’t stop there, though.

He sat at the pup’s side after phoning animal control for assistance, clutching an umbrella to shelter her from the hot sun.

Fiorello was immensely moved by his devotion to the dog.

“He told me, ‘I’m going to sit right here until she trusts me,’” Fiorrello recounted, adding that the dog sensed the trooper’s kind nature. “She seemed to sigh a contented dog sigh.” And those doe eyes — it was like night and day. They made contact. It was quite effective. “I was crying joyful tears for that girl.”

And it turns out that this relationship would not be transitory.

Fiorello had to continue on her way before assistance arrived, but she subsequently learned that the dog had been safely rescued and was being treated at the vet. She had a fractured hip, but it wasn’t anything she’d have to deal with on her own.

For that section, the officer would also be by her side.

A week after being found on the side of the road, injured and alone, the pup found a home. The officer made the decision to keep her permanently.

“Adopted! He finally got her today!” Fiorello explained. “Her name is Princess, and she’ll be home in a couple, maybe two weeks from the vet.”

Princess’ happy ending couldn’t have been more perfect for Fiorello, whose impulse to find treatment for the injured pup resulted in the pup’s entire life altering forever.

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