Brian Becker, a writer and documentary film maker, spent two years looking for a dog. Roo, a golden retriever, spent the first year of her life looking for her home. Fate brought them together just in time to save Roo's life.
"My boss at Independent Labrador Retriever Rescue of Southern California called one day and told me to pick up a frightened young golden at a spay clinic in north Los Angeles," Becker wrote on his blog, The Dog in the Clouds. "This dog had been left to be euthanized in a high-kill shelter because the golden retriever rescuer who met her, [sic] 'she was the most petrified golden' they had ever seen in a Los Angeles Shelter. There were other dogs that day who needed to be pulled, and the sad decision to leave her behind that all rescuers face had to be made. Our rescue got a call from a shelter worker - Roo would have a needle placed in her arm shortly. She was assigned to me."
Roo was undernourished, flea- and tick-infested, covered in sores and had black teeth from never having a chew toy, according to Becker in his blog. The shelter listed her as three-years-old.
Roo, the dog on death row, was only eight-months-old.
When Becker took his "daughter dog" home, she had no toys. Becker decided to change that, according to AKC. To celebrate her homecoming, Becker took Roo to a pet store to sniff out her very own first toy.
Becker took Roo from a dog that was afraid of everything - facing a death sentence - to a happy, healthy dog who passed by ropes and tennis balls... and picked out a stuffed hedgehog friend to keep her company in her new home.
To read about Roo's rescue in full, check out Becker's book, "Notes from a Dog Rescue in Progress."
Golden retrievers are loyal, energetic dogs. To learn more (and see another adorable video), click here.
Don't forget to check out how you can celebrate National Walk Your Dog Week with your favorite canine! Don't have a dog yet? October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. Learn more here.
