Woman Tracks Down and Rescues Dogs After Seeing Them Abandoned in a Video Online (Exclusive)

Under the autumn sky, Barbara Holbrook pulled over her car on the side of a rural road, clutching a can of wet cat food and hoping she wasn’t too late.

Somewhere beyond the brush, two frightened dogs — abandoned by their owner and caught on video being dumped — were still waiting, as if the person who left them might return.

“I saw the Facebook reel before I ever saw the TikTok,” Holbrook tells PEOPLE. “It was Friday evening, and I’d called off work that day. I saw all these comments about how awful it was, but not one asking if someone had gone to get them. So I thought — why not me?”

Holbrook had been volunteering with animal rescues for the past year, often fostering dogs through her local shelter. This time, though, there wasn’t a call for help — just a video online of two dogs left on a remote hill, a car driving away into the dark.

She searched the winding road for nearly an hour, slowing down to call for the animals as she scanned the trees. Then she heard it — a soft bark from somewhere up the hillside.

Step by careful step, Holbrook climbed, holding out bologna and cheese until two pairs of cautious eyes peeked back. “It actually ended up being wet cat food that got them,” she says with a laugh. “After about an hour, they let me close enough to catch them.”

The man who filmed the original video arrived just as she managed to coax the dogs down. He wasn’t the owner — he was the one who had come back that morning to check on the strays, bringing his children along to help.

“He was so kind,” Holbrook shares. “I handed the dogs down to him off the hillside, and he helped me get them into my car.”

For Holbrook, relief came quickly, followed by the familiar panic of what to do next. Two shivering dogs now sat in her backseat, exhausted but safe.

“Thankfully, two local organizations offered right away,” she says. “They ended up with One By One Animal Advocates, and they’re in a foster home now. They’re getting vaccinated and spayed and neutered, and once that’s done — and any legal stuff is sorted — they’ll be adopted.”

Even in rescue work, moments like this are rare. “Usually it doesn’t go that smoothly,” Holbrook admits. “Sometimes you go out again and again and never find them. So this one meant a lot.”

But the moment that stayed with her most wasn’t the capture — it was what came right before. “There’s always this second when they finally decide you might be safe,” she says softly. “They stay just out of arm’s reach for so long. And then one of them steps forward, just close enough for you to touch them. That moment — when they decide to trust — is always the most rewarding.”

The TikTok that started it all has been viewed 1.9 million times, sparking outrage and heartbreak online. Viewers were stunned that someone could drive away and leave their pets behind, but for Holbrook, the viral reaction points to something deeper.

“I really believe most people are good,” she notes. “Something major has to be going on in their lives to do something like that.”

She’s seen how the strain of overcrowded shelters, rising food prices and limited veterinary care can push owners to desperation. “People think they’ll live these happy, free lives out there, but they don’t,” she explains. “They’re domesticated. They can’t hunt. They starve, or they get shot because people are scared of them. A lot of folks say, ‘let dogs be dogs,’ and they don’t realize what that really means.”

For Holbrook, rescue isn’t about judgment — it’s about action. She hopes this story reminds others that sometimes, the difference between life and death for an animal is one person deciding to show up.

“A lot of people scroll past things like this and assume someone else will go get them,” she says. “But sometimes, nobody is. If it’s safe and you’re able, go check.”

Safety, she stresses, always comes first. “If they’d been large dogs acting aggressive, I probably wouldn’t have gone,” Holbrook says. “You have to be smart and careful. But if it’s something you’re capable of doing, go see for yourself. Don’t just wait for someone else to do it.”

Holbrook lights up as she describes seeing updates from the dogs’ foster family — photos of them curled up on soft beds, their eyes bright again.

“It’s a catch-22,” she admits. “It’s really rewarding, but it’s also kind of depressing. The need is so great, and we just don’t have enough resources.”

Still, she believes anyone can help, no matter how small the gesture. “If you can’t foster or catch dogs, you can do laundry at your local shelter,” she says. “You can stand outside Walmart collecting food for animals. Those small things add up. Every bit helps with the overpopulation crisis.”

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“They waited there all night for their owner to come back,” she says, her voice catching. “It breaks your heart. Because even after being left, they still believed she would.”