Last week, a little Shih Tzu had one final chance. She was stuffed in a garbage bag, left at the curb. A New York City trash truck was approaching. The little dog was seconds away from a certain death, smashed in the back of the truck, dumped at a landfill.

The dog moved, making the bag move. And Victoria Roman, a trash collector, saw that bag move.

“I reached for the bag and something moved,” Roman told a reporter for WABC, “and I found her inside the bag. If she had not moved, she would have been in the back of that truck, most definitely.”

Roman opened the bag. What she saw greatly affected her.

“She was in horrible, terrible condition,” she said. “It breaks my heart and I don’t want to start crying, but she was in really, really bad shape.”

According to WABC, the dog was caked in her own filth, her eyes were matted-shut, and her fur was so tangled-up in her overgrown nails that she could barely stand.

The dog was taken to the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition, or BARC, an animal shelter in the Williamsburg district where vets and staff treated the dog. They’re amazed by her recovery.

“She’s doing great, you know, considering what she’s been through,” said Vinnie Spinola of BARC. “She’s a tiny little thing, has a lot of life in her, and not affected by what’s happened to her, not emotionally affected by what happened to her.”

“She still loves people in spite of what’s happened,” he said.

The people at BARC also named the dog: Victoria, after the woman who saved her life.

Once Victoria has made a full recovery, she’ll be adopted. She won’t have to wait long. According to the BARC’s Facebook page, “We have been getting many calls about her. We are overwhelmed with applications to adopt Victoria, and we are not taking any more.”

BARC has scheduled a meet-and-greet with both Victorias at its Brooklyn location on April 18 at 6 p.m.

Via WABC; photos via BARC Animal Shelter’s Facebook