Charlie's Home! RivCo Family Shares Harrowing Dog Adoption Story

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A severely dehydrated, malnourished and abandoned Boxer-mix known as Charlie has a new home and a new lease on life after being rescued in Riverside.

Found and ultimately rescued by the Paasch family of Riverside, after ten days they were finally able to call him theirs.

"The poor pooch was in bad shape," John Welsh, spokesperson for the Riverside County Animal Services Center, said.

Kristi Paasch was walking near her Riverside greenbelt home and the family took in the severely dehydrated and malnourished dog. They named him "Charlie," According to Welsh, he was "a hot mess."

"I came by him laying down on the street, next to a tipped-over city trash can," she said in a Youtube video shared by the center. "He wasn't afraid or aggressive." Paasch describes in the video returning home for dog food and water in an attempt to show the dog that they were not a threat to him. In the end, it didn't matter.

Charlie went with them willingly. As they attempted to clean him up, the depth of his condition hit home.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said. He was covered in fleas and ticks and needed urgent veterinary care. They learned the large abscess on his hind leg would require surgery and medicine. More importantly, as he was microchipped, they would have to take him to the county to see if the owners could be found.

"Although it pained them to relinquish Charlie to the shelter, they never stopped thinking about saving him," Welsh said.

Paasch said she called the shelter every day for ten days, asking after the dog she knew in her heart was hers.

"We called every day, hoping they found the owner and that there was a reasonable explanation for the awful condition of the dog, but no one came forward," she said.

They came to claim Charlie as theirs when the waiting period was over.

Charlie is home now, enjoying his surroundings and his family. But a picture taken by a neighbor's security camera brought Paasch to pause. The photo shows Charlie lying in front of their property before finding each other. What a difference a few days makes.

Whatever his life was like before, now he has a home and family that loves him.

Paasch sees that picture as a sign that Charlie was meant to be theirs, saying, "I think perhaps he chose us."

They wanted to share their story with the Riverside County Department of Animal Servicesto inspire others to adopt.

Right now, there are 400 dogs in the Jurupa Valley shelter, according to Welsh. They also have 100 dogs at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus.

Could one of them be your next best friend?