PHOENIX, AZ — You might marvel that Chi Chi ever decided to trust humans again. The 4-year-old golden retriever just named the top winner in the 2018 American Humane Hero Dog Awards, was left for dead in South Korea, where she was found in a garbage bag, her legs bound together so she couldn’t escape.

The finalists all had compelling stories — including a dog in Las Vegas that was rescued from the dog meat trade — but Chi Chi’s ability to forgive gave her the title over 265 other dogs.

Chi Chi nearly died. The ties on her legs had cut to the bone, and the only way to save Chi Chi was to amputate her legs. Rescued twice, first from the Dumpster and then by a family in Phoenix, she was skittish and afraid.

“But with time and lots of love and grace, she realized that she is safe and no one will ever hurt her again,” Chi Chi’s profile reads. “She forgave and decided to trust people again.”

Animal Rescue, Media and Education’s Facebook video that told her story caught the attention of Elizabeth Howell, who lives in Phoenix. The dog’s legs had been amputated just above her paws, but she wagged her tail and leapt straight into Howell’s heart.

“She stole my heart,” Howell told NBC’s “Today” show last year after she and her husband adopted Chi Chi, who had been fitted with a pair of custom prosthetics.

Her husband, Richard Howell, said Chi Chi’s story is “about resilience and overcoming life’s worst, and just never giving up.”

“That’s what she embodies for us and for everybody who meets her,” Howell told “Today.”

Today, she is a happy dog, with a valuable job. Chi Chi works as a therapy dog, impressing those who meet her with her courage, perseverance and never-give-up attitude.

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Chi Chi also provides therapy online via social media.

Photo Credit: Invision for American Humane/AP Images