Pearl was first discovered in China
on a meat truck. She was missing her leg,
and her skin was very bad.
The rescuers from Slaughterhouse Survivors
brought Pearl to their hospital.
They were not optimistic.
She recovered a lot quicker than anybody really thought.
- Pearl, come here. Pearl.
- Go, Pearl!
After two months, Pearl
was healthy enough to fly to California,
with the help from Road Dogs and Rescue.
When I first met Pearl at the airport when she arrived,
she was just really chill and laid back.
On our drive home, she just fell asleep on my lap.
- You got a new life ahead, huh?
Pearl is a really relaxed dog.
She's just been so easygoing.
I have three dogs of my own.
I have two French bulldogs, and I have a hound.
There's always concern when you bring a foster dog in,
how they're going to react to the other dogs.
- Good boy, Gus.
But it was a seamless transition, really.
I put her down. Everybody met her.
Everybody got along from the start.
- What happened?
Once I had her in my home
for a day or two,
I could tell she really does struggle a bit
to get around on just the three legs.
Her hips are not great.
She's so adaptable
that she doesn't let it slow her down.
But you can tell in some of her movements
that it definitely inhibits her.
Because Pearl was my foster,
I was pretty biased reviewing adoption applications.
So I needed somebody else to be a part of the process with me.
Cheryl is another volunteer, so she helped in that process.
Cheryl and I had a really good feeling
about Ashley's application. She's a veterinarian.
- I live in New York City, and I guess I used to be a former
crazy cat lady. And now I'm transforming over to
possible small crazy dog lady. I actually wasn't looking
to adopt another dog, but I came across Pearl.
I just saw her face, and how
it just looked like she was completely broken
at the time when they found her, and realized she needed to be
part of my little gang here in New York.
Cheryl lives in Pennsylvania.
She and her husband decided to
spend their anniversary in California,
and then drive back some of our Road Dogs
to the East Coast.
And Pearl was the first seat assigned.
Whoa. I don't think you can fit.
She's always been very laid back,
very easygoing.
No anxiety with a change of environment,
which is why I'm not worried about her.
We will be traveling today, and my passengers are Pearl
and Leela and Teddy and Cordelia.
Our ultimate destination will be Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Pearl is the sweetest, most chill dog ever.
And we're so excited that she's going
to her forever home in New York with her Mom, Ashley,
who's phenomenal.
- Hey pretty Pearl.
- Bye, guys.
- Bye-bye. Say bye to Leah.
She really will be fine.
Her Mom's gonna love her.
She already loves her and has never, never met her.
I'm gonna miss her.
But I know she has a great life ahead of her.
And I'm happy for her at the same time.
Where we going, Pearl? Where we going?
Here we are. Pearl's in Henderson, Nevada.
Welcome, Pearl! - Ready to jump out of the crate.
Day two. Look!
And there she goes!
Road trip day three.
We're in Colorado, heading for Kansas.
Pearl's up in the front, riding shotgun. Right?
And in the back, we have Miss Cordelia.
She's sleeping.
And we have Teddy, who's not.
Are you bringing the luggage in? Hey, Leela! Here she comes.
Pearl's having a great time, aren't you, Pearl?
She loves those French fries.
We just arrived at our last stop.
So the pups were just fed.
They're out playing.
[playful growls]
We're coming to Allentown.
We're almost home, Pearl.
There we go.
Today, Pearl's new Mom, Ashley, is coming from New York City
to officially adopt her. So we're very excited
to welcome Ashley.
I have a couple of my friends coming with me
to drive to Allentown.
- I have bagels!
We've got some snacks for the road.
This is Claire. - Hi!
- Hi! This is Tiffany.
- Hi! And this is Brawleigh.
All right. So it's starting.
We're on our way to go pick up Pearl.
I'm so excited to see, like, her little personality,
and all the things that I've been
hearing about her, about how she's playful
but still very chill.
Where's your Momma? Your Momma's coming.
I think Pearl deserves the best life.
She's just a beautiful creature.
- You ready? - I am. It's been a long time.
- Here we go, Pearl. - My gosh!
- Here we go, Pearl. - Hello, Pearl! Hello!
- There we go. - Oh my gosh.
- There we go, Pearl. - Oh my goodness! Hi!
- There's your Momma, Pearl. - Hi, baby!
- There's your Momma! - Hi.
- There's your Momma. - She is so little.
She was so chill, and so comfortable
in Ashley's arms.
- Pearl's everything I imagined she would be
and even more. And it's just fantastic.
And this is -- yeah, this is Leela.
- Pearl's going for a close-up.
Everybody wants one, huh?
I promise I'll take good care of her.
I know.
- I know this is the first time I'm meeting her in person,
but I feel like with all the videos
and all the pictures, that I feel like I've known her
for a very long time.
- I believe Pearl has found
her forever home, and it was truly meant to be.
All right, Pearl. It's time to go home.
My heart melted when I saw her, and I just wanted to be with her
and hold her again, just to kind of reassure her, like,
this is it. Finally in your permanent home.
First time Pearl stepped onto the New York City street,
I think the smells were overwhelming.
She wanted to smell everything, and explore everything.
I think she's gonna fit in great here.
Welcome home, Pearl! Yeah.
So you're excited, huh? Excited to be in your new home.
Let's go. Come on.
When I first brought Pearl
into the apartment, she went crazy smelling again,
exploring everything.
Hey, Janet. Hey.
Want to meet your new sister, Pearl?
Hey, Pearl.
Hey, Pearl. Hi. Look. Hey.
Pearl and Janet met for the first time.
They were a bit hesitant, but I know they'll be good friends.
She did end up finding her bed, and she plopped right in it
and fell asleep nicely. I thought it was pretty cute
that she knew exactly that that was hers.
I think she was hungry.
I feel like I made the right decision
in adopting Pearl, because I feel like her personality
is very relaxed, and so is Janet's,
and so am I.
So I think we all complement each other very well.
For a longterm plan for Pearl,
I plan on definitely looking into a prosthetic,
to seeing if that's best-suited for her,
and also some rehab.
Pearl came from a pretty bad situation.
And I think it's a miracle that she's alive.
And I think that she deserves
the best life that she can have going forward.