He was found wandering the streets of Lancaster, California. Like thousands, probably millions, of other stray dogs, he was sick and starving. Nothing but bones and matted fur, an infected wound festering on the side of his face, days from death.

Anemic, his intestines wriggling with parasitic worms and foxtails (those scrubby plants that grow in parking lots) embedded throughout his body causing infections even in his eyes and lodging in his carotid artery, George teetered between life and death for almost two weeks before finally stabilizing.