Unfortunately, discrimination is pretty much present everywhere – even animals can feel its effects.

Pitbulls, in particular, are often stereotypically seen as an aggressive dog breed and a lot of people believe that they simply can’t get along with humans… or are just extremely misbehaving dogs. For most Pitbulls out there, however, that is most certainly not the case.

A lot of Pitties have difficulties getting adopted, and that was very much the case for this poor Pitbull.

One day, a woman named Olena Kayui was simply scrolling through her Facebook feed when a picture of a sad-looking Pitbull pup caught her attention.

It was a social media post made by the local shelter, stating that the dog would have to be euthanized as they couldn’t find him a home.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t residing in a no-kill shelter and the staff started to lose hope for him.

This post on Facebook was the last chance for this teary Pittie and, luckily for him, it worked.

“I normally scroll past, because it makes me sad that I can’t rescue all the dogs in need, but something about his face caught my attention,” Olena said to The Dodo.

The pit bull was named “Smiley”, and his personality was just that.

As his name suggests, this pooch just loved smiling and was described as very friendly and outgoing, loving to all kinds of squeaky toys, and as house-trained.

While he may listen to the name “Smiley”, smiling is something that this pup seemingly wasn’t capable of anymore.

Smiley was brought to the shelter by his previous owners because they were expecting a baby.

Apparently, there was no room for both the baby and the dog, so Smiley had to go.

If the shelter couldn’t find him a new loving and warm home in time, the pooch would have to put down. It would be an absolutely tragic story, but Olena wanted to stop that from happening at all costs.

“I started bawling when I saw that no one in the comments said they could take him,” the woman recalls. “My husband noticed me crying, read the post and said, ‘We can’t get a dog right now.’”

Her husband noticed how much saving this dog’s life would mean to her, so he agreed to take him in as a foster dog.

Olena was absolutely determined to help this pup out, and she even got in touch with a local animal organization named Pound Hounds Res-Q.

They were actually trying to get Smiley out of the shelter before he would need to be euthanized, but they lacked a shelter home – and that’s exactly where Olena could help out.

Just a couple of days later, he was neutered and Smiley was welcomed in the family home.

However, he definitely didn’t feel at ease in the beginning and was quite nervous and distressed.

“He wouldn’t make eye contact or respond to any commands nor his name,” she recalls. “He drank some water and it was … clear that he was house-trained, [and] knew not to jump on the bed or to chew anything except for his toys. But he wouldn’t settle down or look at me all day.”

Even going on walks was extremely difficult.

“I’d come home breathless with rope burn on my hands,” she mentioned, adding that it was very difficult because he kept pulling on his leash.

Luckily, as the days passed, Smiley really started opening up and embracing his foster family.

“On Saturday … we let him sleep in our bedroom on his doggie bed to make sure he didn’t lick his stitches,” Olena said. “He slept like a baby, wagged his tail at us, and made eye contact, responding to his name. He also didn’t go anywhere at night, just shifted from one position to another while sleeping.”

As for the issues outside, while going on walks, Olena learned a new walking technique from the animal organization group and also got him a new front-clip harness. It made a world of difference for both of them!

“He was much calmer, pulled less and loved being surrounded by dogs and people.”

Even though the couple was only planning on fostering Smiley, they’re absolutely smitten and are making plans to adopt him permanently.

“Smiley already feels like part of our family,” she mentioned. “It doesn’t take long for a foster dog to make their way into your heart. Our home would already feel empty without him here.”

The animal organization couldn’t be any happier with the conclusion of this beautiful rescue story.

“To think that he was going to be killed because his family was having a baby is ‘crazy,’” founder Donna Darrell said. “He was such a good save.”

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Source: The Dodo, Julie Carner (Facebook)