A woman named Jessie Goetze was driving past a rocky beach in New South Wales, Australia, a few years ago when she saw a dog running near the water. The pup was completely alone, which led Goetze to believe that he was lost.

Goetze tried to coax the dog into her car, but he ran away. She shared some photos of him on Facebook, and based on comments people left below her post, she learned he wasn’t lost — he’d been abandoned.

Goetze, determined to rescue the dog, went to the beach where she’d first spotted him every day, multiple times a day.

“Each day I visited … [h]e’d be in the water, just scouring the sea,” Goetze said in a video for The Dodo.

It seemed to Goetze that the dog was searching for the family who’d left him behind, unaware that they weren’t going to come back for him.

“It was quite heartbreaking seeing how intent he was to try and find his owner,” Goetze said.

For over a month, Goetze worked tirelessly to gain the dog’s trust. But after everything he’d been through, he didn’t want to come anywhere near her.

“He was scared of people,” Goetze said.

One day, it finally clicked for the dog that Goetze was there to help him. She held her breath as he came up to her and ate a piece of food right out of her hand.

“He literally sat on my lap,” Goetze said.

Goetze brought the dog, whom she named Ocean, home with her. He immediately got along with her entire family, including her young children. He couldn’t stop wagging his tail and cuddling with everyone in sight.

“He just seemed so happy to be around people again,” Goetze said.

When Ocean got back on his feet, Goetze got him set up with a woman who was excited to adopt him. As much as it was difficult for Goetze to say goodbye to Ocean, it means the world to her that she got to save him and give him a second chance.

“[I]t just can’t bring me any more joy that we found this incredible home for him,” Goetze said.