Row upon row of cages were filled with barking Labs, retrievers, shepherds and mixes—all eager to greet the Humane Society International rescuers who had just arrived at a dog meat farm in South Korea last October. As research student Myles Wallingford moved around the property, he saw the heartbreaking conditions the 200-plus dogs were living in—and then he saw Sofia, a black and white bull terrier with soulful brown eyes and an adorable underbite.
Her back legs were deformed and the wire bottom of her cage made it painful for her to stand, but she seemed determined to meet Wallingford.


“She looked at me and with all the positive enthusiasm she could muster, jumped as high as she could in my direction, hitting the cage door time after time.” Wallingford says. “Despite the stress and fear she was feeling, she would not stop kissing my hand or take her eyes off me.”
Wallingford knew he would be traveling for the next few months and believed Sofia deserved a home quickly, so he reluctantly said goodbye before she flew to a placement partner in Montreal. When he was back home in Denver six months later, however, he still couldn’t get her off his mind. He called SPCA Rousillon, where Sofia and several other dogs went to get ready for adoption, and was stunned to learn she was still available.
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