Pit bull Petey's first roll in the grass

Almost no one thought he would get out. "There was no way anyone was gonna rescue this dog," says Alex, the volunteer who found him. She's sure he would never have left the shelter. Still, for some reason, she felt drawn to him.

The first worry was brain damage, because of the size of his head. As Alex puts it, he was "just all beaten up." He had clearly been in fights, but the swelling looked more like a blow from something heavy and sharp.

Then came the slow part. Petey had x-rays, antibiotics and all his prescriptions. Once he started to put on weight, everything checked out well. A dog hurt that badly is so low that his true self stays hidden, and it takes a few weeks to start to show.

When his photo popped up on Facebook, the woman who would take him home thought, "I need to meet him." By the next morning it was "I have to have him."

At home, Petey slept a lot. One morning starts with a loud snore and a soft whisper. "Petey. Good morning."

What finally came out was a big, easygoing guy. She calls him the happy-go-lucky lug from the Jersey Shore. "He's just like all muscle," she says, "but he's all heart underneath."

He's learning something new about people, too. He has become "a little more aware that there is a human who isn't going to be mean to him." There's still a beat of doubt before he tries anything. Then he jumps right in, happy about all of it.

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Some days are full of puppy firsts. She brought him into a fenced-in area to run around, and that was the first time he rolled in the grass. Everything is new to him. Now he gets loud kisses, and he pants right through the praise. "Such a good boy, such a good boy."