And the 2025 PEDIGREE Foundation Rescue Dog of the Year is…Relic!
When the PEDIGREE foundation reached out to us at the end of 2024 to let us know they’d chosen one of our shelter’s adopted dogs for their 2025 Rescue Dog of the Year, we were surprised and thrilled to be chosen. What wasn’t surprising was that the success story they connected with most was Relic’s.
When Relic first arrived in our care, he exhibited recognizable signs of shelter stress, including reactivity to humans and animals. Relic is a gorgeous, full-grown German Shepherd. 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. Additionally, as a “working” breed, they recognized Relic’s potential to build new skills and respond to positive reinforcement.
Knowing Relic needed intervention on multiple levels, our staff set to work. Our Behavior & Training team started by moving Relic to a private habitat where he could be monitored closely, while working on a long-term training plan incorporating decompression, desensitization, and counter-conditioning training. With the goal of getting Relic more comfortable with people, they kept his handling to staff-only and let him set the pace for new experiences.
Simultaneously, our Foster program put out the call to our community of dedicated Foster friends to find a good fit for Relic. A stay away from the shelter was the best option for alleviating the stress Relic had already built up while in care, and—if the family was willing—an excellent opportunity to continue training in a less triggering environment.
We found the perfect fit in a couple who had recently lost their beloved cat, and were looking to bring love back into their home without leaping too soon into an adoption. They welcomed Relic into their home and were willing students of positive reinforcement training, continuing the work our team did on-site and keeping in close contact with our staff.
“The staff at the East Bay SPCA were really helpful,” they wrote. “Reaching out proactively to check in on Relic and make sure he had what he needed while supporting us with any questions we had.”
Relic’s fosters invested time, attention, and love into his journey, utilizing home trainers referred by our team and a veterinary behavioralist. Under their diligent care his reactivity improved dramatically, and his personality shone through. Realizing they were committed to his happiness now and well into the future, they decided to adopt Relic into their family. (Read their Happy Tail here.)
Relic’s story underscores the importance of getting dogs adopted sooner rather than later, and the impactful role fostering and training support play in shelter animals’ health and well-being. We’re honored to have been a part of Relic’s journey to a happy home, and grateful to PEDIGREE’s grant support for making success stories like Relic’s possible.
“East Bay SPCA’s work is a shining example of our grants in action,” said Deb Fair, Executive Director of PEDIGREE Foundation. “The expansion of their training and development program has long-lasting benefits to the shelter dogs that will come through their doors. We applaud them for taking the extra step in sharing this inspiring experience with the greater shelter community, as it will lead to more dogs finding their forever homes.”
We’ll be celebrating Relic’s pick for Rescue Dog of the Year along with PEDIGREE throughout the coming year! If you want to celebrate Relic and support PEDIGREE’s work, you can even purchase a plush Relic of your very own. A portion of the proceeds from the limited-edition plush will help dogs find loving homes through shelter and rescue grants.
To read more about Rescue Dog of the Year and Relic, check out our press release here. To learn more about PEDIGREE Foundation’s work in helping animals, head to pedigreefoundation.org.