It’s incredibly sad to see stories about animals who are leading rough lives. Sadly, Woody the Great Pyrenees is one such animal who was living a very difficult life.

Woody was 5 years-old when he was found living on the streets of North Carolina after being a stray for years. Though the dog was picked up by animal control and brought to his local shelter, he was not in the best state when he got there.

Woody was covered in mange and fleas and he had heartworm, among other medical conditions.

Since treating Woody would be too expensive, the shelter made the difficult decision to put him down. Thankfully, right before he was scheduled to be put down, LaMancha Animal Rescue stepped in! The only problem was they were located far away in Pennsylvania.

The rescue workers called up their friend Paul Steklensi, a former Army pilot who founded Flying Fur Animal Rescue. In the past three years, Paul has flown 1,000 dogs from high-kill shelters to no-kill rescue groups, and he agreed to do the same for Woody!

After rearranging the crates on his plane, Paul was able to make room for the 84-pound dog and 4 others into it that were also getting rescued.

Woody was so grateful to be rescued that he sat right next to Paul and did not move for the entire flight!

“It was great, he just wanted to be around us, and that blows me away. Here’s this dog, he has all these problems, but he doesn’t care, he just wants to be next to another being,” Paul said.

Woody stayed calm despite the heavy turbulence as he enjoyed the view from the plane.

“It was wonderful — I never expected him to climb forward the way he did. He just wanted to be part of the action,” Paul said.

LaMancha got Woody treatment as soon as he landed, and within one week, his white coat was fluffy and bright again!

Check out Woody’s amazing journey in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!