Drax was supposed to be euthanized.

He was sitting in a shelter in Texas, scheduled to be put down, when a local humane society stepped in and pulled him the very same day his life was going to end. But even after being saved, Drax’s future was still uncertain.

At the humane society, Drax quickly developed a horrible reputation.

People were afraid of him. Staff and volunteers avoided him. Eventually, no one but their head trainer was willing to spend time with him at all. At the time, we were both still active-duty Military Working Dog handlers volunteering at the humane society. When we met Drax for the first time, we immediately saw someone different than everyone else seemed to see.

We didn’t see a “dangerous dog.” We saw a dog who had learned that people viewed him through fear, labels, and past experiences. He was a dog who had learned that the world expected the worst from him.

So instead of meeting him with fear, pressure, or judgment, we met him as a dog first. And Drax responded to that almost immediately.

When we made the decision to foster him, people watched in disbelief as we walked him out of the building. Even then, the fear surrounding him was still so intense that people would physically move across the hallway to avoid passing by him.

What started as a foster case slowly became something much bigger. Over time, Drax stopped surviving and started living. And about two months later, we officially adopted him.