Los Angeles, California - A stray dog found itself trying to survive at an abandoned school. Even though animal rescue activist Suzette Hall wanted to help him, the dog was terrified. What the dog did to get by was like a dagger to Hall’s heart, but what happened next mended it.

"The heat was unbearable today, and it’s only supposed to get hotter over the next few days. At night, he would sleep on the baseball pitching mound. During the day, you could always find him under his favorite tree, where he felt safe in the shade," the Californian wrote on Facebook.

The dog survived mainly because some people kept leaving food and water over the fence for him. However, that didn’t seem to be enough.

"People had been kindly leaving food and water through the school fence, so when we arrived early this morning, he just wasn’t hungry enough to go into the trap. I watched him wander to the back of the school, where the old trash cans used to be, searching through old garbage just trying to survive. It was absolutely heartbreaking," she wrote.

Dogs Dog's brothers rush to comfort him after scary medical procedures: "Taking such good care of him"

"After spending hours trying, I had to leave for another rescue. But the entire drive, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. My heart just kept saying, 'You have to go back. You have to get him today.'"

So, she drove an hour back, and this time, the dog seemed ready and hungry.

"I baited the trap with hot dogs and then drove my van away because he was so afraid of it. I had watched him circle that trap all morning, praying this would finally be the day. He squeezed through the tiny openings in the fence… looked around one more time…and then he walked into the trap," she wrote, adding, "I can’t even describe how happy I was."

After a month of trying to survive, the dog was finally safe.

"My heart is so full," Hall wrote in the heartfelt Facebook post. "You’re safe now, sweet boy. You’ll never have to survive alone again."