Jared Twedell was driving to the recycling center on a Sunday morning when the Oregon resident noticed something unusual during his travels.

“There are railroad tracks near the gate, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught this flicker of movement. thought it was a deer lying on the tracks.”

Twedell stopped to whistle toward the animal in hopes that it would leave the tracks. It was then that he noticed it was not a deer but rather, it was a dog.

The problem was, someone had tied the puppy to the track.

“I went into panic mode,” Twedell said. “He tried to walk toward the car and the rope pulled him back.”

The tracks were active and the train came through a few times every day. Twedell had no idea how long he had until the next train would pass. He pulled off to the side of the road and rushed over to help the abandoned dog.

“He was obviously scared,” Twedell said. “I was worried about whether or not he would let me get close to him. I patted my leg and said, ‘Hey little buddy!’ His tail just started wagging. That’s when I knew he would be OK with me approaching him.”

The dog was tired from his ordeal and from being out in the heat so long. Someone had intentionally tied him to the track. Twedell quickly made sure that he was safe and they both went to his car.

“The rope was tied in a figure eight, like you would use to tie a boat to a dock,” Twedell said. “Someone did this 100 percent on purpose. It just made me sick.”

He knew that the dog would be coming home with him so they both hopped into the car for the drive. At first, he called the dog Train but the family changed it to Sampson.

After they arrived home, Samson was given some TLC that included a bath and removing the burrs from his fir. He did have a small cut on his neck but otherwise, there weren’t any major health problems.

It wasn’t long before Samson was enjoying his time with the other pets in the household. They included cats, a giant rabbit and two other rescue dogs.

“The dogs have all been getting along great,” Twedell said. “All they’ve been doing since I brought Samson home is play.”

Samson is a large dog but he is probably only around six months old. More than likely, he isn’t finished growing.

“He’s definitely rambunctious and really big,” Twedell said. “I’m sure someone got him thinking they’ll end up with a tiny puppy, not expecting him to already be 60 pounds at 6 months old. He’s still so young, and it was over 100 degrees with no shade out there. I don’t think he would have made it out there, even if a train didn’t come through.”

Samson is now under the care of this kindhearted man but more than likely, he will become the next member of the family.

Twedell said, “He’s a really great dog. This little guy had someone watching over him.”