Los Angeles shelter gives disabled dogs a chance with a set of wheels

LOS ANGELES -- One little terrier in Southern California used to go by the name Cry Baby. It made sense given how much pain he had endured.

“He was hit by a car,” said Susan Fulcher. “His back was broken.”

His two hind legs were paralyzed and after surgery, his family no longer wanted him.

But Fulcher did. She gave him a new home and a new name: Presley. It is something Fulcher has done more than 25 times through her organization Dharma Rescue, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

But this isn’t just about keeping the dogs alive; It’s about helping them really live.

“That’s what we do and we do it well,” she said.

She fits each one of them with a custom doggie wheelchair. With just two working legs, they’re now on a roll.

“What kind of reaction do the dogs have when you put wheels on them?” Tracy asked.

“They immediately take off,” Fulcher replied.

“We only had one dog who had trouble, who sat there, and that would be Lovey Gaga, the one in the pink wheelchair.”

She’s a bit of a diva and probably doesn’t realize her idle wheels cost about $500. But to whom much is given, a little is expected.

After some training, these rescues have become therapy dogs. They visit schools to provide stress relief for kids with learning disabilities, behavioral problems and autism.

“It is terrific and magnificent that they have a purpose in life, after they are hurt. They get the love but they actually deserve it,” said Chloe, a student.

‘You have given them a second chance, do you enjoy seeing them give back to other people?” Tracy asked Fulcher.

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” she replied. “In this world right now we really need to think about giving more, caring more.”

And that despite limitations, we are capable of so much more.