Stray Dog Appears Out Of Nowhere At Ranch In Need Of Help—Now It's Her Home

A stray dog who was found in a poor state of health outside a rural ranch in North Carolina may have finally found what she was looking for—a place to call home.

Alexandra Waychoff has always enjoyed a challenge. Maybe that's why, two years ago, she and her family upped sticks and moved into a ranch that dates all the way back to the 1860s. "We've been challenged with a lot of unique situations," Waychoff told Newsweek. "In the past year, for example, we had sudden flooding in our woods that brought out hundreds of toads making incredibly loud noises for 24 hours while they mated."

The ranch remains a work in progress. "We've still got a lot of work to do on the house to update it," she said. "The floors are slanted down because of how old the foundation is and the original brick fireplace has a bird family living in it."

However, Waychoff found herself facing an altogether different challenge this past weekend when a stray dog appeared outside their home. "She ran onto our driveway on Saturday May 4, in the afternoon while my family and I were outside doing yard work," Waychoff said. "We've called her Leia, which is a Star Wars reference."

America has a major stray animal problem, with the welfare charity PETA estimating that, on any given day, there are as many as 70 million homeless dogs and cats fighting to survive across the U.S.

Waychoff was baffled by the sudden appearance of Leia, given her ranch's location. "We live in rural North Carolina, with lots of open spaces and woods, but we've never seen her in the area before," she said. Waychoff initially assumed the dog would return home to wherever they came from but, when the family got up the next day to find Leia waiting outside, she began to suspect this might be different.

A veterinarian who gave Leia a lookover told Waychoff she was likely a Carolina dog, a feral breed most commonly found in the swamp areas of the southern U.S. Waychoff shared footage of Leia's sudden appearance to TikTok under the handle WildWayRanch, writing: "we'll do our best for this deserving dog"

Waychoff said: "She looks to be around a year old, is very thin and doesn't look like she's been fed regularly. She has intestinal worms, fleas and ticks, and her ankle looks to have recently healed from a break."

Waychoff and family wasted little time in getting Leia the treatment she needs to deal with those fleas and have her ticks removed. "We've really bonded with her, so we are going to keep her at least for now," Waychoff said. " She prefers to be outside and untethered so we've installed an invisible fence."

Waychoff said the decision to keep Leia, for now at least, was partly motivated by the young pup's budding relationship with her 11-year-old son. "She actually ran to him first when she arrived, and it seems they had an instant connection," she said. "Leia has really soulful eyes, and is definitely smart and affectionate."

At the moment, Leia is still finding her feet with life on the ranch and learning to coexist alongside the family's other dogs, a German shepherd and a Goldendoodle, as well as their rescue cat. "We have been slow to introduce them to Leia because we wanted to make sure she was healthy first," she explained. "But Leia is showing them she is submissive by laying low and rolling on her back when they approach her."

In the meantime, they are doing all they can to help Leia feel comfortable. "She hasn't been particularly playful, I'm not sure she's ever had a toy before and we think she is in some pain from the worms," Waychoff said. "She's been very curious, and enjoys exploring our property with one of us by her side. She's been enjoying watching our chickens as well."

While she ultimately hopes Leia can lend a hand in patrolling the property and protecting the family's chickens from predators, right now Waychoff and her family are just happy helping their pup visitor get back on all four paws and showing others on social media the difference this kind of intervention can have.

"I've always wanted a chance to provide love and care to an animal in need," Waychoff said. "I hope that videos like mine help people open their hearts to all types of animals and inspire them to treat animals well no matter what."

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