(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Karen Kalunian, and today we're gonna talk about Handsome Dan's Rescue.

(upbeat music) Hi everyone.

Today we're gonna talk to Heather Gutshall from Handsome Dan's Rescue, and she's gonna talk a little bit about how the whole foundation was formed.

And as you can see behind us, the wall of Handsome Dan himself.

And Heather, please tell us a little bit about Dan and how you founded Handsome Dan's Rescue.

- Sure.

Dan was one of the dogs rescued from the Michael Vick dog fighting case.

Why is that important?

It's because that was the first time in history that the dogs were evaluated as individuals, rather than euthanized as a group.

You know, we all wanna be seen as individuals, not as some kind of collective.

- And with a dog fighting group like that, every dog is sort of categorized as the same.

- Absolutely.

And we, you know, went ahead and showcased those dogs through social media, and because of their success, that is now industry standard.

So that was great.

I brought Dan home for a six month foster to adopt period after he left Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

We adopted him and had him for... - [Karen] He became part of your family?

- [Heather] He did.

He became... - And he's such a famous boy himself.

He even won an award, you said?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Most famous dog on the internet.

- On the internet, and he deserves all the notoriety.

And so after him spending time here with you, did that inspire you to start doing rescue, was he the turning point?

- Dan shaped my life in such profound ways.

I learned to be better as a trainer for Dan.

So that was huge.

We had already had a rescue prior to adoption, but because of his notoriety and following on social media we changed the name to Handsome Dan's Rescue, and that is the name today.

- And so fitting because he is so handsome and he had a wonderful life here with you.

I just want folks to know that he has passed over, we say the Rainbow Bridge.

- Yes, yes.

- But I know that there are still several, right, from the fighting ring, or have they all passed now?

- At this point they've all passed away, but their legacy lives on.

You know, we're able to help other dog fighting survivors because of the success so widely seen of this group of dogs.

- Well that's amazing and kudos to you for all the work that you do at Handsome Dan's Rescue.

I know if folks are interested in adopting, they can reach out to you.

Look at that face.

Who doesn't wanna a handsome dog for themselves?

So thank you again, and rest easy, big boy.

Thank you Heather.

- Thank you.

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(dog barks) (no audio) (no audio)