It all started with a heartbreaking goodbye that never happened.
Adrienne Wyse was delivering donations to a shelter when a couple walked in with an old, raggedy-looking dog. His skin was rough, nails overgrown, eyes red and weepy. He smelled of years of neglect.
No name tag, no blanket, no parting kiss. They handed him over and walked out—without even a glance back.
But Adrienne couldn’t forget him.
She took the 14-year-old dog—named Charlie—home. Gave him a bath, a big dinner, a soft bed, and something he likely hadn’t felt in a long time: love. Charlie had cancer and heartworms.
He didn’t have long. But for five weeks, he soaked up the sun, devoured steak and chicken, and finally heard someone say the words, “Good boy.”
That moment changed everything.
Adrienne and her husband, Adam, knew what they had to do. And so, in 2018, they launched Forgotten to Spoiled Rotten, a nonprofit dedicated to giving elderly, sick, and special-needs dogs the one thing every soul deserves—a loving home to live out their final chapter.
Working from their home in Burleson, Texas, the Wyses take in the dogs no one else wants. The ones shelters label “unadoptable.” The ones people don’t choose because they’re scared to fall in love just to say goodbye.
But Adrienne and Adam? They run toward those dogs.
“Any dog that comes here that does not have a family is considered family,” Adrienne says. “Even if it’s just for a few days, they know they are loved.”
Some of the dogs have been feral their entire lives. Others were once beloved companions whose owners passed away or grew too sick to care for them. Adrienne says those are often the most heart-wrenching—dogs who lose everything they’ve known in their twilight years.
Yet something beautiful happens in their home. The dogs not only bond with the couple, they bond with each other. They nap in warm piles, share meals, sniff the same backyard breeze.
There’s a peace there—like a retirement village built not of sadness, but of grace.
Adam puts it best:
“Everyone deserves to leave this world knowing that they were loved and mattered to someone.”
And thanks to two ordinary people doing extraordinary things, that’s exactly what these forgotten dogs get.