Photo: Jason Pofahl | Unsplash
"In the gold-brown mountains around Weaverville, N.C., there's a dormitory filled with dysfunctional and depressed dogs," NPR reports. It's part of the Behavioral Rehabilitation Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ASPCA. The BRC is an inventive program designed to foster trust and wellbeing among traumatized canines. Most of the dogs that arrive there have been rescued from puppy mills or hoarding stations. Started in 2013, the center has graduated more than 500 dogs from the three-month training course that slowly and gently teaches the canines they can enjoy human company and respond to basic commands. The program has grown from 5 to 30 full-time staff and has an astounding success rate of 87% (the original hope was 50%). "The magic part [is] watching, for the first time, a dog that's been terrified lean toward you, or play -- that's just amazing. And I can't talk about it without getting choked up," says Kristen Collins, BRC's Senior Director of Operations.
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