Rosebud the pit bull was very skinny and nearly hairless -- and yet utterly, disarmingly charming -- when Taylor Wilkes met her, in early July.
"From the first time I said hello to her, she was very sweet and loving. She wagged her tail and gave lots of kisses. You could tell she was just happy to be alive," Wilkes says.
She's lucky to be alive, too.
Rosebud had been brought to a Georgia animal shelter in late June, with a starved body and terribly infected skin. She was about 5 months old at the time and weighed less than 20 pounds.
A group called Hounds in Pounds got her away from the shelter, where a dog in Rosebud's condition wouldn't stand much of a chance.
Pia Colon Wurth, vice president of Hounds in Pounds, thinks that, based on her condition, Rosebud had been badly treated before her rescue. That she deserved a shot at something better.
"The neglect that Rosebud experienced was not overnight. It was her way of life," Wurth says. "Neglect was her normal."
Rosebud was brought to an animal hospital, where she stayed and was treated for a couple of weeks.
Someone from the hospital brought Rosebud out to a community yard sale, to help raise awareness and money for Hounds in Pounds.
And that's where Rosebud met Wilkes. And the dog's life turned around completely.
Wilkes and her girlfriend, Amber Powell, are animal-lovers who live in Fayetteville, Georgia, where the couple already had three doted-on doggies when Rosebud came along.
"I think our favorite thing to do though is hang out with the dogs at home," Wilkes says. "It sounds lame, but it’s extremely entertaining."
Wilkes had an inkling at how well Rosebud might fit in when she and their boxer pup Lucy began romping at the yard sale, that first time they all met.
"They instantly became best friends," she says.
And the couple instantly offered to bring Rosebud home as a foster.
That means she was going to live with the family temporarily, while healing, and until she was ready to be adopted.
But after nearly a month, with her hair growing back, and her body filling out, and her pack growing ever more affectionate, it's looking like Rosebud's going to stick around.
The four dogs romp around like maniacs, and hang around with Wilkes and Powell on the couch. Lucy and Rosebud then tucker down for a good long nap, together.
"I would hate the thought of separating her and Lucy from one another," Wilkes says.
Meanwhile, Rosebud is getting more confident every day, without losing a drop of sweetness.
"I hate that she had to go through whatever she went through before she was rescued, in order to find us," Wilkes says.
To Wurth, the remarkable thing about Rosebud's story is how normal it is. Or, rather, how normal it could, and should, be.
If more people adopted, and volunteered, and fostered, and donated, and were willing to look past a bald coat to see a great dog who just needs some help, then even more Rosebuds could go from sick and at-risk to safe and regularly snuggled.
"Any dog deserves the right to be helped. It is up to people to step in and offer to help," Wurth says.
Wilkes says she's just glad that she and Powell, and Lucy and the rest of the canine gang, found Rosebud in time, and that with them she's been able to bloom.
"I don’t know if we got her before she lost hope in humanity, or if she is just that resilient," she says. "Either way, she is an inspiration."
Get in touch at arin.greenwood@huffingtonpost,com if you know an inspiring pit bull, or have another animal story to share!
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