Two years ago, Wendy Broom was jolted from sleep by her daughter with an urgent request. A little hairless puppy was running across the road by their house, clearly abandoned. The puppy had a few cuts and scrapes and was dangerously underweight — could they help?

Immediately, Broom jumped into action.

“I had a little box, [and] I put a blanket in it,” Broom told The Dodo. “And [the puppy] immediately went and curled right up in it.”

Broom and her family took the puppy to the vet to get looked at.

“She had severe mange, she was full of all different types of worms,” Broom shared in a social media post. “We had to give her special baths with [medicated] shampoo. She also was on antibiotics for the infection in her skin. It took several weeks for her hair to grow all the way back.”

The puppy, whom Broom and her family later named Taylor, also had an issue with her front leg that required her to wear a splint and cast for about two weeks.

Throughout her medical treatments and flea baths, Taylor’s attitude began to shift. She was quiet the first few days she was in Broom’s home. But once she realized she was safe and cared for, an entirely new Taylor started to emerge.

“Within a couple days, her whole personality started changing,” Broom said. “She started being more active, and she started to get super playful.”

Once Taylor’s leg healed, her fur grew back and she completed her deworming treatment, she was ready to be a regular happy, playful puppy. And, luckily, she’d found her way into a fun-loving pack of fellow pups who seem to really enjoy spending time with her.

When Taylor isn’t running around with her furry siblings, she can be found by her mom’s side. And Brooms is just as smitten with her rambunctious rescue pup.

“I really do feel like we’ve created this special bond,” Broom said. “She follows me everywhere, and she loves chewing on anything. She’s just so full of life, and she just makes me smile.”

Since Taylor arrived at her rescuers’ home over two years ago, the pup has only grown more independent, and her personality has really blossomed as she’s gained more confidence.

“She is such a sweet girl that loves everyone,” Broom said. “She loves her outside time and will play fetch all day if you let her. She is always happy and eager to play.”

And although Taylor loves everyone, she does have two main enemies: gophers and the family’s golf cart.

“Her biggest enemy is the golf cart,” Broom said. “She thinks she needs to protect us from it.”

Broom thinks her family was meant to find Taylor when they did. “I really believe she came to us for a reason,” Broom said. “We rescued her, but I also think she was sent to us to help us be able to transition because our senior dog was getting older. He passed last week, and he was the one that taught her how to be a dog.”

“Plus, having her has helped because she is so full of life and energy,” Broom said. “It makes the house not feel so empty without him.”

The Taylor who was first picked up and placed in that cardboard box could have never imagined the life she’s living now. She’s spoiled rotten, surrounded by love and living the kind of life every dog deserves.