This North Texas couple finds dogs no one’s ever loved, then spoils them rotten

Adrienne Wyse and her husband Adam are driven by a simple belief.

“Everyone deserves to leave this world knowing that they were loved and mattered to someone,” Adrienne said.

This is not only true for humans, but also for animals.

Which is why the Burleson couple in their early 60s run a nonprofit called Forgotten to Spoiled Rotten. Working out of their home, they take in dogs who are elderly, in hospice or have special needs, caring for them when no one else will.

“Any dog that comes here that does not have a family is considered family,” Adrienne said. “Many are very sick when they arrive and may not be here long, but we want them all to know that they have a home and a family and that they are important to us.”

How ‘Forgotten to Spoiled Rotten’ got started

Forgotten to Spoiled Rotten began in 2018 after Adrienne had visited a shelter to deliver donations.

“A couple came in with a very sad looking older dog,” she recalled. “His skin looked to be in bad shape, his nails were very long, he smelled horrible and his eyes were red and had mucus in them. His body was covered in hard calluses. He just looked as though no one had ever loved him.

“After they completed the paperwork (to surrender him), they walked out without so much as a goodbye or a pat on the head.”

Facing certain euthanasia, Adrienne refused to let the 14-year-old dog named Charlie leave this world in such a manner. So she took him home, gave him a bath and treated him like he had probably never been treated before.

“We went and got him a huge bed and a big dinner the first night. He ate and drank like he had not had food or water recently,” she recalled. “Then he slept soundly all night.”

Sadly, a trip to the vet the next day revealed Charlie was heart worm positive and had cancer. All they could do was keep him comfortable in his final days.

“So, for the next five weeks we gave him steak and chicken and lots of other treats. We let him lay in the sun and scratched his ears,” Adam said. “We told him what a good boy he was and how lucky we were to have him with us.”

They stayed with him until the end, and then we brought his ashes and paw print home, where they will always remain.

Why these dogs?

The Wyses work with these dogs because they are the hardest for shelters to place. They typically require a great deal of medical care and are often considered unadoptable.

“People do not want to have them for a relatively short period of time only to have to let them go,” said Adam, who is a musician.

They also take in some feral dogs.

“These dogs really have nowhere to go, generally, but they deserve a home, too,” said Adrienne, who works as a regional manager for a food company. “They have been let down most of all.”

Adrienne said the dogs mostly fall into one of two categories — those who have never been cared for, or those whose owners become sick or die.

“Those dogs are the saddest,” she said. “They suffer the most when they lose everything they have known at a very senior age.”

She added that most dogs they take in also love making new four-legged friends.

“They really enjoy the attention that they get from us, but they seem to thrive on the community of friends that they make here,” she said.

What it takes to care for hundreds of dogs

The Wyses have grown children who sometimes help out and even foster on occasion. The couple often take the dogs to public events where they are showered with love and kindness by strangers. They have Facebook and Instagram accounts where followers go out of their way to be supportive.

They have several fosters who work with other rescue partners to place any dogs that can be adopted. They also work with a rescue in Mexico.

“We transport street dogs from there and find rescue placement for them,” Adrienne said.

The Wyses generally get dogs from small shelters and individuals. They also work with some hospice groups that are aware of animals needing a home after their owners die.

The vet bills for all the animals they care for run between $250,000 and $300,000 annually. They also provide vet care and dog food to many seniors who cannot afford it so they can keep their pets. They feed between 100 and 130 strays every day.

Bessie the Queen

The oldest dog the Wyses have now is Bessie, also known as the Queen.

She is 21 years old and adored by literally everyone.

“She has been here for seven years and has had a grade 6 heart murmur the entire time,” Adrienne said. “Our vets have done an amazing job of keeping her healthy over the years. We did have one dog that lived to be 25. Her name was Coco.”

Adrienne said she is working on a book tentatively titled “Lessons I Have Learned From My Dog.”

“Because they have taught me so much,” she said. “I am also astounded by the number of times that I have seen God at work through our rescue. I have some great stories that would be very difficult to explain without His involvement.”

How to help their mission

If you want to help, visit their Facebook page (Forgotten To Spoiled Rotten Sanctuary) or through Instagram at @travelinggirlrescuesdogs.

“People tend to treat old animals and old people as disposable,” Adrienne said. “These are some of the sweetest dogs you will ever find. They just want a lap to sit on and a hand to pet them.”

This story was originally published May 25, 2025 at 5:35 AM.