Week after week, potential adopters scroll past the rescue brown and black dogs posted online. At the shelter, visitors walk past kennels with no kennel cards displaying engaging photos that would make them stop and take a second look.

When the ASPCA pulled several dogs from an apartment in New York City, Tiki was among them. Tiki was believed to be around five years old and arrived deeply fearful. He would lay in his crate without moving, avoided eye contact, and sometimes soiled himself out of fear.