Texas - When a woman noticed an abandoned dog on her neighbor's property during a heat wave, she knew it would die without quick help.

A recent viral clip shows how the sweet dog Chance was saved from certain death.

Stephanie Garcia noticed a dog on her neighbor's property in May. Nothing unusual so far – but the owners had already left their house a few days earlier.

And these people weren't gone for just a few hours at a time. In fact, the owner had fully moved out.

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"I knew I couldn't trespass by going onto the property because I didn't have permission, so I figured a rescue definitely could help if I couldn't," the woman told People.

She hoped for help from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), a worldwide non-profit animal welfare organization. Surprisingly, her request to enter the property was denied by a judge.

Luckily, one day Garcia noticed someone with a key walking up to the house. She saw her chance and ran over to finally get permission to enter the property.

Lo and behold, she and her husband were at last allowed onto the land. The couple began to approach the four-legged friend slowly, as he seemed scared and shy.

"We didn’t get close to him the first few days, we let him get familiar with our faces, scents and voices," Garcia explained. "After the first week of going into the property, Chance stopped running from us and we saw him getting more comfortable."

The couple, who already had four dogs themselves, regularly brought the abandoned animal food and drink.

"Chance would’ve been left to fend for himself next door in the Texas heat with no food or water if my husband and I didn't step in," the dog mom added.

The poor pup was terrified, and "it was clear he had been through a lot in his lifetime," Garcia explained.

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"Luckily for this rescue, we had the opportunity of taking it slow and working with Chance over the weeks, whereas most rescues require immediate rescuing."

After they noticed that Chance was feeling more and more comfortable, he even followed them onto their own property on day 13.

As time continued to pass, he started approaching Garcia when she would visit. The woman and dog hung out for hours in the garage, which was a place where Chance felt safe.

"His body language was changing and tail wags started becoming more apparent," the woman recalls.

"Our patience was paying off. Chance could see we weren’t there to hurt him and we cared about him."

One day, Chance was standing in the garage with an abandoned stray German Shepherd – the couple decided to adopt her as well.

"Seeing a dog's eyes light up after being so dim and dark is enough to heal the soul," says the rescuer.