On a freezing January day in East Saint Louis, a brown and white pittie whined desperately at the backdoor of a home. He paced the patio, his plaintive cries captured on a security camera.

Luckily, the teenage girls inside heard him and opened the garage door so he could warm up while they called for help.

The dog, named Adobe, had been seen roaming the neighborhood for days before entering the garage.

“He was posted on multiple local lost and found pet pages during a bitter cold snap,” Jill Henke, operations director at Gateway Pet Guardians, told The Dodo. “Several neighbors were seeing him, but he would not approach them. One of our volunteers lived in the area, and he came to her house a couple of times, so we had actually set up a humane trap in her yard a few hours before he was rescued, hoping we could secure him there.”

Adobe was found wearing a nice harness and collar, suggesting he’d lost his family. But without an identification tag or a microchip, there was nothing to point the way home.

At the shelter, staff gave him ample time and space to decompress. They’d never seen a dog so “visibly shaken” by the cold. But it didn’t take long for Adobe to show his caregivers how grateful he was to be warm and cozy.

“He has settled in nicely here at the shelter and has quickly become a shelter favorite,” Henke said.

It’s been over two weeks since Adobe arrived in the shelter, and no one has come to claim him. Every day, the pup gets more comfortable and shows off his happy-go-lucky personality — using his big, expressive face to win over everyone he meets.

“Adobe is super sweet, but can be a little shy with new people,” Henke said. “Once he has warmed up, he is super silly and loves being around his people. He loves other dogs and has been in playgroups with tons of dogs at the shelter. He loves treats and is very treat-motivated!”

Adobe is searching for a foster or adopter who will help him heal and gain confidence. “Adobe would thrive in most homes and would enjoy having a canine buddy,” Henke said. “He was found by two young teenage girls and really took to them, so we think he would be great in a home with kiddos too.”

But one thing is for sure — when the sweet dog finds his hero, he’ll never be alone, shivering outside in the cold again.