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It was May 2016 and my heart was broken into a million pieces as Brandy, my second golden retriever, had just suddenly passed away. She was just two months short of her 10th birthday.

After a few weeks, my husband suggested we might want to visit the local shelter and adopt a dog that needed a good home. I was still very upset about Brandy but was hoping that might help, so off to the shelter we went. As it turned out, the shelter was running a special that weekend whereby all of the adoption fees were waived in an effort to find as many of the dogs as possible a home.

All of the small and medium dogs were already adopted and most of the available large dogs were reserved, as well, but I noticed a hound type of dog that was laying on the bottom of her cement kennel and just looking up at us as we walked by. She would not sit up and bark or acknowledge us at all, as if she were thinking, "Why should I bother? They won't pick me anyway."

I asked one of the kennel keepers what her story was, and they told us that her pregnant mother had been dropped off at the shelter just before having her puppies the previous September. The mother and all of her puppies had been adopted, but this puppy, who was now 9 months old, had been returned twice.

They were not sure why the first adopter had returned her, but the second adopter had a 2-year-old toddler that the puppy kept knocking over, in her zeal to play. So, she was brought back after only one week, and she'd waited for someone to notice her for more than two months. We took her outside, and she perked right up, as she loved being out of her kennel and getting some attention.

We renamed her Chloe (her original name was Lira), and she is going to be 10 this September and has turned out to be a great dog. She is extremely intelligent and absolutely adores my goddaughter's young children, who are 7- and 6-years-old and 6-months-old. I would not trade her for anything, and I suspect her two original adopters have no idea what a jewel they gave up.

Story submitted by Debbie Gorth.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!