Joan Banks - Second Chances: Inspiring Stories Of Dog Adoption

Two women approached the brick ranch-style house along a tree-lined drive in rural Missouri. Nothing about the tidy acreage hinted that it was a puppy mill and that in the barn behind the house dogs were being kept under deplorable conditions.

The owners showed the women into their comfortable family room, which served as the selling area. Photos of dogs lined the walls. Most folks who wanted to buy a puppy stopped here; they never went out back. If they had, they might have changed their minds about purchasing a $700 pooch from these people.

But the two visitors today weren't there to buy puppies. They were there to rescue four mature females destined to be shot because they were of no more value to the owners.

The only thing I can give these people credit for is that at least they give us a chance to rescue animals that are no longer breedable, says Debi Baker, founder of Recycled Rovers of Morse Mill, Missouri, who was there that day.

The owners escorted the two women to the barn that housed four hundred dogs, each of whom produced about two litters a year. The dogs lived in two-by-two-foot wire cages, stacked and suspended above a concrete slab.

A four-year-old black-and-white Shih Tzu shrank down on the wire floor as the four stopped in front of her cage and opened the door. Usually humans approached to take her out for breeding or to rip her puppies from her. This time, gentle hands reached in. A human stroked her and spoke softly. This was something new.

But new things scared her. Like her mother before her, she had little experience outside of a cage. The Shih Tzu's coat had none of the silky beauty typical of her breed. Dermatitis had caused much of her hair to fall out. What was left clumped in mats. Infections covered her skin and her eyes were milky. Overgrown toenails curled back into the pads of her paws.

She was one of four dogs that the women rescued that day.

Back at her place, Debi Baker named the little dog Betty and began to clean her up. She shaved away the mats of hair and bathed her. Betty took the grooming quietly and calmly, though it was a brand new experience.

I've never seen a dog from a mill that was aggressive, Debi says. Physically bad, yes; battered and scarred, yes; but mean? Never.

A veterinarian put the pooch on a regimen of antibiotics to try to save her eyes and her abscessed teeth and to cure her infections.

Meanwhile a question loomed: Now that she had been saved from certain death, who would want to adopt such a pitiful dog?

Debi had faith. She posted Betty's photo and description on Petfinder.com. When I looked into Betty's eyes, there was something there that touched me, Debi says. I knew someone else would see it too.

That someone else turned out to be Maggie Winegarden of Iowa City, Iowa. The Winegardens, David and Maggie and the two of their five sons who were still at home, had a mature springer spaniel, but they knew Bo, at twelve years old, wouldn't be with them many more years. They wanted to introduce a new dog into their home before they suffered the loss of Bo.

Maggie wanted a small dog that her youngest son, Nate, could manage, and who would sit in his lap. When she learned about Shih Tzus from a friend who had one, she decided the breed would be a good choice. She had begun searching regularly on Petfinder.com, and when Debi posted Betty, she popped up on Maggie's next search.