The night the earthquake hit, survivors of the Norwich Mission House’s collapse were greeted by a furry cheerleader-cum-rescuer.

Tamar, the house’s young German Shepherd, was the first to arrive when Lanitte Belledente crawled around outside after being knocked down and seriously injured; the house’s security guard and a neighbor’s security guard followed.

When Chuck Dietsch was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 10 hours, lying on the ground waiting for rescuers to take him away, Tamar came over and licked his face.

The Norwich Mission House was Tamar’s home and it was destroyed, so Mission House staff found her a temporary place to stay. Tamar has spent the past three weeks at a yoga retreat in Petionville.

Tuesday, staff and a team from Haitian Ministries picked Tamar up and brought her to her new digs, the same house the staff will live in for the foreseeable future.

Tamar jumped up into the back of the Land Rover the Ministries team was using Tuesday, and sat tall looking out the back window at the city. Jean Marie Brutus, a gardener, pointed to Tamar and said something in Creole.

"She gained spirit," he said.