Woman Experiencing Homelessness Saves Dog, Impacts Lives

Dianna is without question a dog lover. So, when she saw Huck, a young St. Bernard mix bleeding and battered, she took him and cared for him, even though she is experiencing homelessness.  

Huck had been hit by a car near Goodwill. 

“Here comes the St. Bernard the next morning just looking like something from the living dead, but he drug himself up there, he loved himself some Dianna,” said Dianna.  

Dianna cared for the dog the best she could, but he was in pretty bad shape.  

“The cold front that had come through in January of 2021, it was freezing, and we went out there to make sandwiches,” said Rheagen Miller-Watkins, Huck’s new owner. 

Miller-Watkins was out with some friends feeding unhoused folks and went to Dianna’s tent.  While talking with her he noticed Huck.  

“Man, he was just skinny and laying in some blood, his back end was just really swollen,” said Miller-Watkins.  

Miller-Watkins and his wife continued passing out meals but when they got home, they couldn’t stop thinking about the dog in Dianna’s tent. 

“My wife said, ‘I’m really surprised you didn’t try and bring that dog home.’ And I just kind of looked at her and said was that an option?” said Miller-Watkins.   

It was a tough decision for Miller-Watkins because his dog of thirteen years had passed about a month earlier. But the couple found themselves back at the camp that night.  

The couple gently convinced Dianna to let them help the dog. Dianna had one demand, that they promise not to put him down.  

“She gave him a hug and she cried, and she looked at both my wife and I and said he’s going to die here, isn’t he? And I said yeah,” said Miller-Watkins.  

The couple took the dog to an emergency clinic that night. He had a big open wound on his leg, and lots of lacerations.  

“The vet told us that he would not have lived another 24 to 48 hours,” said Miller-Watkins.  

That was January of 2021, today Huck is healthy and happy, living in Virginia on five acres of land. And Dainna just got the update on the dog she saved.  

“Oh yeah, I gave him a home. He looks good,” said Dianna.  

“I’m so grateful that Dianna saved his life. He’s amazing, he’s my best friend,” said Miller-Watkins.  

Currently Dianna is caring for three dogs, but she says there will always be a special place in her heart for that special dog now known as Huck.