The dog was brought to the MCACC West Shelter after animal control found him near a freeway in north Phoenix. No one came forward for him during the hold period, and he had no collar or microchip.<\/p>\n
When they first saw him, he was “extremely matted, dirty, sunburned, and skinny,” with “bruises and eczema on his skin from how long some of the mats had been there.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/47f0aa74fad762b76dd069e526ef0680.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: Reddit <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c291383c47f790954aba2a341e55a9f9.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: Reddit <\/p>\n
The original poster said they “didn’t necessarily have the intention to adopt a dog that morning” but added: “I could not physically walk out of there without him.”<\/p>\n
Looking back nearly two years later, the adopter said they do not regret bringing him home.<\/p>\n
Why does it matter?<\/p>\n
A dog who appears neglected, fearful, or unhealthy at intake can still be friendly, well-trained, and ready for a home once someone gives them a chance.<\/p>\n
When dogs arrive without a collar or microchip, reconnecting them with their former families becomes much harder. In busy shelters, animals can run out of time before the right person finds them.<\/p>\n
What are people saying?<\/p>\n
“He is literally the perfect dog, so sweet and gentle and social, potty trained with never a single accident and already knows sit, stay, shake hands, and down,” the OP wrote.<\/p>\n
The adopter said his manners made it seem likely that someone had previously spent time training and caring for him.<\/p>\n
Commenters were also delighted for the OP and charmed by the dog.<\/p>\n
“What a beautiful and very lucky baby,” one said<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Wow! What a glow-up! I can’t imagine how relieved he was to be freed of that matted, dirty fur,” another added<\/a>. “He looks so beautiful now. He looks like he is in heaven! Bless you for your kindness!”<\/p>\n “So glad you found each other,” said<\/a> one more.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Reddit post about one Arizona shelter dog’s dramatic turnaround shows just how heartbreaking his “before” was \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":915883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,22793,1589,86087,55172,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-915882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-north-phoenix","tag-phoenix","tag-photo-credit","tag-shelter-dog","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116871960270498332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}