Faces of No-Kill: Dog feels at home on the range

Meet Jessie: the dog with the widest grin and the happiest tail. She has every reason to smile, living on a California ranch where every day is a new adventure. Whether Jessie is strolling through the stables, cruising on the golf cart, or saying hello to the cows, it’s clear that she feels at home on the range. However, her life looked completely different just a few short months ago.

Two-year-old Jessie came to the Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Bentonville, Arkansas, from a shelter several hours away. She brought some serious health challenges with her: Her legs were severely bowed, and she had heartworms. Her legs didn’t cause her pain or immobility, but the heartworms would take months to treat.

Jessie arrived during a whirlwind time of preparations for the pet resource center’s first anniversary celebration. She wasn’t a fan of all the hustle and bustle, so she did a couple short stays in foster care to decompress. Feeling at ease in a home environment, Jessie’s sweet demeanor truly shone.

Meanwhile, Pam and Joel Shackelford were traveling from their home in California to Arkansas to attend the anniversary event. The couple, who already had seven dogs, had no plans to adopt another — but fate had a different idea.

[6 unexpected benefits of fostering a dog during heartworm treatment]

“We went down before the event started to see the dogs, and Jessie was in the first enclosure. We really just gravitated toward her immediately,” says Joel, recalling the pup’s positive, playful energy.

After having a meet and greet, the couple offered to take Jessie on a doggy day out. The next day, they picked her up for a day of fun, which was mostly spent playing and relaxing in the hotel. One afternoon with Jessie was all it took.

“We just really fell in love with her and couldn’t imagine leaving without her,” says Pam. They officially adopted Jessie, giving everyone at the pet resource center even more reason to celebrate their anniversary.

After a road trip from Arkansas to California, Jessie was home. However, she wasn’t home-free quite yet: She still had months of heartworm treatment ahead of her, which meant working closely with their local vet and keeping Jessie as calm as possible. A quiet RV on the property became her temporary residence.

“One of the things we’ve learned in dealing with heartworms is that one of the biggest threats for the dogs is that they can get depressed because they have to be essentially crated most of the time to keep them calm,” says Pam.

[Dog with incontinence, heartworm proves that love always wins]

To keep Jessie’s spirits up, the couple split the day into shifts. Pam would work from the RV during the day, and Joel would sleep there each night.

“She’s a very nice cuddle buddy,” says Joel. “It’s been nice getting to know Jessie one-on-one.”

Once she completed heartworm treatment, Jessie’s new life really began. Finally, she could fully enjoy the ranch, which includes horses, cows, goats, chickens, turkeys, and, best of all, canine friends.

To celebrate being free of heartworms, the family planned a trip to fabulous Las Vegas just for Jessie. She traded in her doggy pajamas for a fancy showgirl costume and turned heads as she rolled down the strip in a pet stroller. All eyes were on Jessie — as they should be.

“I’ve never really been around pit bulls, but she’s very loving, very affectionate. She’s super smart,” says Joel. “All of that makes her very special.”

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.