This Woman Saved An Abandoned Puppy And Found A Best Friend Along The Way

"She's my everything."

One fateful day last summer, Renata Taneyeva was a few hours from her home in Austin when she and her friends spotted a dog limping on the side of the road.

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Once outside the city, there's not much around other than miles and miles of land, Taneyeva told BuzzFeed. "She was hopping on three legs. We just knew something was wrong," she said. "She was crying. I was crying because I felt so bad seeing such a beautiful animal so hurt."

After finding out the number on her collar was disconnected, Taneyeva comforted the dog in her lap while they drove to an emergency room.

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There they discovered she wasn't microchipped, and X-rays showed the dog had a bad break in her front leg. Faced with the hospital asking if she was financially responsible for the surgery, Taneyeva decided to take out a loan to cover the cost.

Kyra got a cast and some pain medication while she waited for the surgery.

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"I think she started to realize she was being saved," Taneyeva said. She found out that Kyra was still a puppy at about six months old — and an Alaskan malamute, not a husky as they first suspected.

To get her back in shape, Kyra needed two surgeries last summer.

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The first required putting a metal plate and long pin in her leg, and a month later, a second to remove the pin.

Meanwhile, Taneyeva started reading everything about the breed and found out that malamutes love chewing, but even coating bones with peanut butter didn't entice Kyra.

It wasn't until Taneyeva brought home a stuffed animal that she learned Kyra was a cuddler.

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"To this day it’s still in its full form," she said. "She’s a crazy snuggle dog."

Since then, Kyra's celebrated her first birthday.

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"She’s just really loving," said Taneyeva. "She loves all dogs, and she’s so gentle with little ones."

The girls love going hiking and exploring outdoors.

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Taneyeva lives across the street from her job as a project manager for a construction company, so she spends her lunch breaks with Kyra at their building's dog park.

And Kyra had her third surgery just this month to remove all the metal from her leg.

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It will take some time for her to regain her strength so that she can hike and play again, but Taneyeva knew it would be a lengthy recovery. "I can’t wait for her to get better so we can get back into doing all of that.”

Taneyeva couldn't tell you who rescued whom, as she wrote in an email posted to Dogs of Instagram.

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"My life’s completely changed," said Taneyeva. "I really believe she was sent to me for a reason."

"She’s my everything."

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You can follow Renata and Kyra's adventures at her Instagram.

H/T Dogs of Instagram