This excerpt is originally featured in PETA’s book, Love and Rescue: Tales of Survival, available on Amazon.

When Sarah was first taken to the Sam Simon Center, she was a sorry sight indeed. The black-and-tan hound was nearly blind and deaf and struggled to walk the few steps to the elevator. She looked like a tired, old dog who was approaching the end of a long hard life when, in fact, she was just 2 years old.

Things had started going downhill for Sarah after her guardian died and a family member begrudgingly took her in. From then on, she spent her days and nights chained alone outdoors, surrounded by dirt, her own waste, and North Carolina cotton fields. She yearned for affection, but her new owner refused to do so much as touch her, saying that she was “yucky”—and the longer she remained out there, the “yuckier” she became.

Months of neglect took a terrible toll on her. She suffered from a chronic medical condition called dry eye, which requires daily treatment. And without it, her eyes became irritated and filled with mucus. The mucus attracted flying insects who constantly buzzed around her face, but she didn’t have the strength to keep fighting them off, and she was slowly going blind. She also had a severe ear infection that had gone untreated for so long that she was in danger of losing her hearing.

Finally, Sarah got so sick that her owner contacted PETA for help—not because she was worried about the dog’s suffering but because she thought that her constant drooling might be an indication that she had rabies.

When a PETA fieldworker arrived at the property, she took one look at Sarah and knew right away that she didn’t have rabies: The dog was obviously in agony, and her drooling was likely a result of stress, depression, and excruciating pain from her infections.

The woman had no money to treat Sarah’s multiple medical problems—which also included fleas, intestinal worms, and heartworms—and didn’t even want to keep her. So just like that, a day that had started out like any other—filled with throbbing pain, mind-numbing monotony, biting flies, and North Carolina mud—turned into the luckiest day of this dog’s life.

PETA’s fieldworker took Sarah back to the Sam Simon Center, and veterinarians immediately started treating her. Exhausted from battling multiple serious illnesses, she spent most of the time sleeping. When she was awake, all she wanted to do was to lay her huge head in someone’s lap and be told what a beautiful, special girl she was. The moment she came into our lives, we added a “Ms.” to her name to give her the dignity she deserved.

Ms. Sarah spent over two weeks recovering at PETA ’s shelter, during which she transformed into a totally “new” dog. Once her body stopped spending all its energy fighting off parasites and infections, she started getting more pep in her step. Her halting, stumbling gait was replaced with a brisk trot. Her dull, dirty fur became sleek and shiny. And as her eye and ear conditions cleared up, it became apparent that her blindness and deafness weren’t permanent, as had initially been feared.

While Ms. Sarah was recovering, a PETA staffer learned that some friends had recently lost their dog and that their remaining companion, a golden retriever named Lola, was distraught with grief—and she wondered whether Ms. Sarah might be able to help them as much as they could help her.

Excited and anxious, she took Ms. Sarah to visit her prospective new family just before Thanksgiving. Would they love this courageous, sad-eyed hound as much as everyone at PETA had grown to? Would Lola resent the newcomer, who in no way resembled her departed canine friend? She needn’t have worried. When the family met Ms. Sarah, it was love at first sight all around. Even Lola perked up, wagged her tail, and gave her a friendly lick on the nose. That settled it.

Ms. Sarah spent the holidays surrounded by the warmth and love of her new family. At her new home, she and Lola play to their hearts’ content, and when they’re ready to relax, they curl up by the fireplace and likely dream about tennis balls, scratches behind the ears, and a never-ending supply of treats.