VICTORIA -- Kelsey shows me a video of when she first met her dog, Bernardo, after he was run over by a car. She shot it at an animal shelter in Mexico.
"He instantly hobbled over to me," Kelsey says.
You can see the dog struggling to drag himself across the ground towards Kelsey's open hand and reassuring words, but Bernardo's broken legs keep getting in his way.
Although the dog seems beyond repair, his focus is caring for the women he just met. The video shows Bernardo stretching his face towards Kelsey's, and licking away her tears.
"I'm just gutted over this poor broken dog," Kelsey recalls. "And he's pressing his face into mine, comforting me."
Kelsey felt overwhelmingly compelled to help. After fundraising thousands of dollars for the surgery to remove his back legs, she brought Bernardo to Canada to convalesce.
"Ever since the legs have been gone and healed, there's been no looking back," Kelsey says, as Bernardo happily slides across the sandy beach next to her. "They just realize how much easier everything is."
Did you notice she said 'they'? You see – a couple years ago – Kelsey helped a similar dog named Dave.
After rescuing Dave, a female dog, from a shelter in Thailand, Kelsey equipped the paraplegic pup with a wheelchair, and they began embarking on outdoor adventures together. She shows me pictures and videos of her and Dave hiking mountains, swimming in lakes, and rolling over logs.
"Every challenge I've just given to her, she's just hungry for it."
On the beach today, Bernardo is still getting used to his wheelchair. But, he seems to have no problem fetching a salty stick that Kelsey threw into the ocean.
"As soon as he realized what the wheels were for, it was just euphoria for him!"
Then Dave rolls-up beside Bernardo. It's almost like a drag-racer revving their engine beside another driver. They speed off together, powered by two legs in the front and two wheels in the back.
Kelsey shot a slow-motion video of her two dogs racing side-by-side in the first snow of the season. If you look at Bernardo's joyful face, it seems like he's finally realizing that bones breaking and limbs losing can't stop his boundless spirit from soaring.
These triumphant moments are bittersweet for Kelsey, though.
After months of fostering Bernardo, she's doing what she's done with more than 20 other dogs, searching for somebody to provide him with a forever home.
"Getting to see the [happy] life of the dogs after they've been with you is what you hold on to when you're letting go," she says.
If you're interested in adopting Bernardo, contact CTV News Vancouver Island and we'll get you in contact with Kelsey.
In the meantime, Kelsey is hugging her dogs tight. Then – she and her pack of free-wheeling pups – make the most of their morning at the beach.
"There's too much adventure to be had, too much life to be experienced," Kelsey smiles. "It's just a great reminder to be grateful for everyday!"
