Britney’s friend, Andrea, visited her one morning asking if she could keep an eye on a lost dog she found roaming around the city bus depot. Britney agreed to watch the dog just for the day, and told Andrea to find the owner soon. They took photos of the dog and printed off fliers, and displayed them around the entire area.
Meanwhile, Britney went to the store and bought some pet supplies, warning her kids not to fall in love with the lost dog. At the time Britney’s son, Patrick, was 10 years old, and her daughter, Casey was 19 years old. Casey had Down syndrome and had recently undergone heart surgery.
Five days later Britney was still looking after the lost dog, who they had started to call Rio. On a Wednesday, when she arrived home from work, the dog raced to the door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Rio sprinted into the kids’ room where Britney found Casey in the middle of a severe seizure. Rio ran over to Casey, but as soon as Britney bent over to help her, the dog went silent.
“If he hadn’t come to get me that day, the neurologist said Casey would have choked on her own blood and died,” Britney reported to the local new channel. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Britney decided to keep him.
The following week, Andrea got a call; a man named Justin recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Andrea started crying, and told him, “That dog saved my friend’s daughter.”
Justin drove to Britney’s house to pick up his dog, and saw Casey crying on the porch and Patrick hugging the dog for one last time. After a few moments Justin said, “Maybe Max was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep him.”