Everyone loves a rags to riches story, but few start out as low as Shelby from “A Dog’s Way Home.” Shelby was living in a landfill and forced to sift through the garbage to find her next meal. All of that changed, however, when she caught her big break.

Unlike most movie stars, Shelby’s breakthrough did not come because an agent discovered her. Instead, Shelby’s story turned around because an animal control officer took pity on a black and tan mutt haunting the dump.

“I knelt down and just said, ‘Oh, come here, baby,” said Megan Buhler, the officer who found Shelby by the dump. “There were lots of cars driving by. I mean, it was heavy traffic. She was so scared, and she finally came right up to me, and I was able to put her in my truck.”

Shelby’s life took a turn for the better after Buhler transported her to a local animal shelter, but no one knew that this trash puppy would end up on the silver screen. Shelby fit the bill, however, to star in a film by Cathryn Michon and W. Bruce Cameron called “A Dog’s Way Home.”

“We started off in the very beginning saying that the dog that is the star of the movie will have to be a rescue, because we were trying to prove something,” Cameron said. “We think we’re making a difference in the animals’ lives when they are adopted, and we’re trying to reveal to the world that rescue dogs are wonderful animals.”

Shelby certainly fulfilled that dream. She was adopted by Teresa Ann Miller, a freelance trainer who had been given the responsibility of training the dog selected to star in “A Dog’s Way Home.” Everyone involved in the film fell in love with the dog including critics. Variety’s review said that the film “is at its best when relying on Shelby and her trainers. It’s amazing how much of the humor, drama and emotion is carried on her canine shoulders.”

After filming concluded, Shelby did not rest on her doggy laurels. She now works as a therapy dog with Debbie Pearl and has been very successful.

“She just has this insight of what she needs to do when she needs to do it,” Pearl said. “And not all dogs have that, even dogs that I’ve used for therapy dogs for a long time.”

Shelby has remained as sweet and humble as she was when hiding in the trash. “She’s exactly the same,” Buhler said after being reunited with Shelby. This is one star who has not let fame go to her head. Instead, she keeps helping others, tail wagging all the while.