
Emaciated golden labrador retriever Charlotte got a new lease on life when duo Jessica Brown and Brodie Dunham rehabilitated her. Now Charlotte is competing in America’s Favorite Pet, an online competition sponsored by Modern Dog magazine.
Courtesy photo
LAUREL HILL — Jessica Brown and Brodie Dunham will never forget the day their little family expanded from two dogs to three.
It was not a planned expansion, but when a family friend showed up at their house with an emaciated golden labrador retriever, the animal lovers couldn’t turn her away.
It was November of 2022, and Brown and Dunham had just recently moved to Laurinburg from Shallotte. They, and their two dogs Bella and Leela, had to uproot their lives when storm damage at their rental house forced them to move out.
They could not find another affordable rental house in that area, but Brown, who is originally from Laurinburg, has a mother and other family still in this area. There was a house available for them on the family property in Laurel Hill, so they moved. Then, they had to find jobs, so things were very challenging for them at the time.
But one glimpse of the dog and they figured they could at least take her in and get her healthy again.
“She was so thin you could see every bone in her body. She probably didn’t weigh more than 40 pounds and she was around 2 years old,” Dunham explained,
“It was appalling, the state she was in,” Brown exclaimed. “It was beyond animal abuse. I just remember thinking we could help her.”
They had fostered animals in the past and that was their intention with Charlotte.
“We were going to get her healthy and then let the Humane Society find a home for her. It was going to be a temporary thing, but we just fell in love with her,” Brown said.
The friend who brought Charlotte to them, and wishes to remain anonymous, was at a job site at a private residence when he saw the skeletal dog chained outside in the chilly November weather. As he was leaving the site, he told the owner he was taking the dog with him and the guy was like go ahead. While he couldn’t keep the dog, he knew Brown’s family loved animals and would probably take her in.
After ensuring she got along with Bella and Leela, the couple agreed to take her from their friend.
Charlotte, whose original name was Scarlett, had a lot of issues to deal with. As would be expected with a starved dog, she was very food insecure. She guarded and gobbled her food like she might not get more — because in her prior life, she wouldn’t, the new owners said. Dunham said it took her months to realize she would get fed regularly.
Because she was so gaunt and malnourished, they fed her puppy food as it has a higher fat content than adult dog food. They also gave her a nutrition paste to get even more calories and vitamins into her. Dunham says it took her about three months to fill out and achieve a healthy weight.
Charlotte also had emotional trauma and was very skittish. The couple slowly gained her trust with love and kindness and food. Now she is clingy but “loving” and “sweet,” according to Brown.
She was also not house-trained and was very destructive. She chewed their shoes and a thick air conditioner cord and lots of other stuff.
They couldn’t let her destroy the house, but they refused to give up on her. So, they insulated their storage shed, put a heater in and moved her bed out there. She lived in the shed for a few months as they trained her to be a house dog and let her adjust to her new life and surroundings. She was not chained, and they brought her in the house regularly. They also made sure they and the other dogs spent plenty of time with her. She now lives in the house full-time with Bella and Leela and her people.
Dunham and Brown acknowledge that they had lots of help in saving Charlotte and giving her a second chance. He said, “We could not have done this without the unwavering support and kindness and generosity of friends and family. Jessica’s grandma helped us keep all three dogs fed until we got jobs. Four of my Theta Delta Chi fraternity brothers, who own rescue dogs themselves, gave us donations to buy things like a crate, a leash and harness, and other supplies.”
All the TLC Brown and Dunham poured into Charlotte was returned to them as Charlotte is now a healthy, energetic, and loving 65-pound dog who seems happy to be a part of their family.
Charlotte has some new excitement going on in her life now. She just cleared the first round of America’s Favorite Pet Competition. That means she garnered enough votes to be in the top 20 of her group of 80. Brown saw the contest on Facebook and knew she had to enter Charlotte.
America’s Favorite Pet is an online competition sponsored by Modern Dog magazine and benefitting PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society). The competitors are set up in groups and then the public can go to the America’s Favorite Pet website to cast one free daily vote for their favorite dog. To vote more than once a day, people can make donations, which benefit PAWS, and receive a vote to cast per dollar donated. (For those interested, there is also a contest for cats.)
Charlotte has now advanced to the third round of voting which narrows each group down to 10. Brown said there are 3,100 groups. Round 3 voting for the top 10 will run through Jan. 30.
The voting rounds will continue like this weekly, narrowing the pool of competitors until finals week from March 7-13. The grand prize winner will receive $10,000, appear on the cover of Modern Dog magazine and be featured in a story.
Brown and Dunham are encouraging the community to use the QR code included in this story and go vote for Charlotte and make her “America’s Favorite Pet.”
If Charlotte wins, they plan to use the $10,000 prize “… to help dogs like Charlotte have a second chance.” Dunham envisions giving grants to people who foster or adopt dogs that need a little extra help. They’d also like to have more rescue dogs on their property.
Charlotte also has her own Facebook page, Charlotte the Rescue Lab, which the couple invites the community to follow, like, and share. If they get enough followers, they plan to monetize it and help even more animals find their happily ever after — just like Charlotte.