In 2015, Łukasz Muniowski and his wife, Natalia, were riding their bikes through the countryside in Poland when they saw a dog’s head pop up from a ditch on the side of the road.

“My wife said, ‘Oh, a dog,’” Muniowski told The Dodo. “And we stopped.”

But as soon as they did, the dog scampered into a drain, moving in a funny, rickety way.

“Her run … was very awkward,” Muniowski said. “Her back was in the air, the back legs were wobbly and didn’t touch the ground. It’s really strange to describe, because I’ve never seen anything like it.”

This made Muniowski and his wife more determined to help the dog, whom they’d later name Bobby. So they parked their bikes and wandered down to the drain.

“One side of the place that she ran into was closed with a big stone,” Muniowski said. “I started to dig with my hands under it … while Natalia watched if the dog would leave on the other side. Bobby started to growl, but it wasn’t a scary growl. When I was finally able to move the stone and put my hand slowly in there … she smelled it and then put her paws on my hand.”

Now that Muniowski had Bobby’s trust, he scooped her up and held her close. Then the couple rode back into town so they could get Bobby to a vet as quickly as possible.

Bobby was skinny and filthy, but they were more concerned about her back legs, which both appeared broken. In fact, one of Bobby’s back paws seemed to be “hanging … from a single thread,” according to Muniowski.

The vet thought Bobby might have gotten hit by a car, or caught inside a hunting trap, and that she’d probably been running around with her injuries for three or four weeks. But Bobby was so injured, the vet wasn’t sure what kind of quality of life she’d have — especially since she didn’t have a family.

“He suggested that we put her down, because there’s no point in making this dog suffer if we don’t find her a home first,” Muniowski said. “That was when we made the decision that we’ll take her. We just looked at each other and we knew that we want to have this puppy.”

The vet did what he could for Bobby, but he didn’t want to operate on her broken legs — he thought it would be too risky. But when Muniowski and his wife returned to their home in Warsaw, they found a vet who would. One of Bobby’s back legs had to be amputated, and the the bones in the other leg were mended. When Bobby healed, the vet fitted her with a brace to help her walk.

But even with her new brace, Muniowski and his wife didn’t think she’d ever be able to run again.

“I remember that she used to run in her sleep and we were saddened by that, because we thought she would never run again,” Muniowski  said. “Until one night, during a short walk, she was tugging on her leash, so we decided to run and she ran with us! She was so happy.”

Bobby also takes on stairs like it’s no big deal.

“She lives with us now in an apartment on the third floor, with no elevator,” Muniowski said. “She takes the stairs all by herself, except when she’s very tired.”

When she’s not running around and climbing stairs, Bobby is bossing around Leon, one of Muniowski’s other rescue dogs.

“Her hobby is to get on his nerves,” Muniowski said. “Leon is all heart, no brain. He will do anything for her, which means whenever she doesn’t like a dog or a person, she just needs to let him know about it, and Leon starts to bark.”

Bobby also loves doing regular dog stuff, like chasing sticks, exploring the forest and sniffing everything she can. Last but not least, she loves spending time with her family.

“She’s very loving and kind,” Muniowski said. “She loves when we fall asleep together. She sometimes hugs us with her paws and rests her head on our knees and lays like that for hours.”