Dallas, Texas - Joe the dog first came to the Texas facility as a stray along with a litter of puppies, but he withdrew from life completely when he was separated from the babies. What could be done to help him?

Vivian Powers, who has made it her mission to tell the touching stories of shelter animals on the Internet, was completely devastated when she met Joe the dog at Dallas Animal Services.

A viral Instagram video shows the problem clearly: Poor Joe the dog is incredibly shut down.

Unlike the other pups who came rushing in as soon as she walked past the individual kennels during her visits, the black male doggo sat terrified in the corner of his box and didn't even lift his head.

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"It broke my heart watching [him] wedge himself into the corner, trying to disappear," she told The Dodo.

She learned that Joe had once been a street dog and had cared for a litter of puppies before ending up at the shelter.

When the dog family was separated, he became completely despondent.

Vivian couldn't bear the fact that the dog was just hiding away and tried to coax him out of his hiding place with a friend, wanting to give him some time in the fresh air.

But even after fifteen minutes of the two women trying everything, Joe wouldn't move an inch.

"In the yard, Joe was completely frozen," says Vivian.

"My friend lifted him out of the corner, and he rested his head against the window, just watching people inside... we really didn’t want to bring him back to his kennel."

For this reason, the woman phoned around and finally found a foster family who would take Joe out of the shelter, at least for a weekend.

There he met Brussels Sprouts, a dog who had also once been rescued as a stray.

Even though Joe didn't approach the four-legged friend, Brussels didn't leave his side – at a distance – as if he could sense what was going on inside the furry friend.

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"Joe has a village around him now … and a little furry friend who truly gets it," the animal lover wrote on Instagram.

Thanks to the attention Joe's story attracted on the platform, a beautiful miracle finally happened for him.

A family who had recently lost their own beloved dog themselves became aware of the frightened male dog and immediately fell in love.

They wanted to take Joe into long-term care and shower him with as much love as he needed to get back on track.

Even though he still needs some time to settle into his new surroundings, Vivian says he is already making small steps forward.

"Today, he laid outside, and for a brief moment, he curled up in a ball and wasn't shoving his face in a corner," she says happily. "That is a small win!"