German Shepherd named Pedigree Foundation's Rescue Dog of the Year: His sweet adoption story
The Pedigree Foundation announced a 6-year-old German Shepherd as their 2025 Rescue Dog of the Year. The foundation is a non-profit set up by the makers of Pedigree food for dogs, Mars Petcare.
The pup named Relic arrived at the East Bay SPCA in Oakland, California with recognizable signs of shelter stress, including reactivity to humans and animals, according to the shelter.
"Our staff, all too aware of how large breed dogs are challenged in a shelter, knew he needed behavioral support and patience to navigate his transition," the shelter said in a news release. "Additionally, as a 'working' breed, they recognized Relic’s potential to build new skills and respond to positive reinforcement."
Relic was moved to a private setup where he was cared for and trained while the shelter also worked to find foster parents for him, "knowing he would thrive in a supportive home environment."
Foster to adoption
Eventually, a couple who had recently lost their cat of 15 years, reached out to East Bay SPCA with the intention to foster a few pets.
"The house felt empty without him (the cat) but we weren’t quite ready to open our home to another pet," the couple wrote in an essay published on the shelter's website. "We thought fostering at the East Bay SPCA might be a nice way to have pets in the home without committing to it full time and be able to provide a needed break from the shelter for a deserving pet."
The couple, who have not been named, started by fostering pets for a few hours before taking in pets overnight. When they received an email from the shelter asking if they were open to fostering Relic, his story touched them, and they decided to take him in.
"The foster family provided Relic with regular behavior support including private training, phone check-ins, and counseling," the Pedigree Foundation said.
Relic blossomed under the care of the shelter staff and his foster family, who eventually decided their home would be incomplete without him and adopted him.
"Relic is a loyal, good-natured dog who is well behaved around the house and a sweet cuddler when we let him up onto the bed with us," his parents said in their essay. "He takes up a lot more space in the house than our cat did, and it took some adjusting to, but we love having him around now and can’t imagine our home without him."
Relic's parents shared he has now become friends with their neighbor's dog and the two take regular walks together.
Some of Relic's favorite activities include playing with his toys, especially balls, chasing lizards and hanging out with his dad during his weekly guitar jam sessions with his friends.
"Relic lays on the floor between them drifting off to sleep, as his feet move to the sound of the music," his parents said.
Fostering: a key intervention for shelter dogs
Pedigree said Relic's happily ever after highlights the importance of "fostering as a key intervention for shelter dogs," explaining that such program "prevent shelters from being overwhelmed with capacity issues, helping to reduce length of stay and helping more dogs find loving homes." Fostering is also important in preparing pups for adoption by giving them an in-home experience and "improving their social, emotional and mental wellbeing outside of the shelter environment."
The foundation, which offers annual grants to shelters to help them "build and sustain the systems and processes needed to help more dogs get adopted," said East SPCA received a $15,000 grant in August 2023 which supported its Behavior and Training Program expansion. Relic was a direct beneficiary of this grant, receiving specialized care that ultimately helped him get adopted, the foundation said.
"Relic’s story is one of strong shelter pet advocacy made possible through the annual Pedigree Foundation grant cycle," the foundation said.
To celebrate Relic being chosen as the 2025 Rescue Dog of the Year, the Pedigree Foundation has also created a limited-edition lookalike plush dog. The plushie is available to purchase on the Dogs Rule store for $25 and a portion of proceeds will help dogs find loving homes through shelter and rescue grants.
This story was updated to fix a spelling error in the headline.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: German Shepherd named Pedigree Foundation's Rescue Dog of the Year
