A retired racing dog who didn't even know how to play has been transformed after escaping the hard life she once knew.

Vera Johansson lives with her rescue greyhound Juniper in Scotland. "Juniper was raised and raced in England," Johansson told Newsweek. "She was named after the plant the Juniper bush because it's known for being able to thrive in the most horrendous situation and still come out beautiful at the other end. It felt like a lovely representation of her spirit."

When Johansson decided to get a dog, it was a "non-negotiable" that her new four-legged friend would be a rescue. It was while researching online that she learned about the "racing culture" around greyhounds in countries like the United Kingdom and what she viewed as the "horrible price" these dogs pay for the sport.

"After that it became very clear that it was specifically a retired racer who I wanted to give home to," she said. The U.K. has an abundance of retired racing greyhounds in need of a home.

According to The Greyhound Club, a leading information body set up to educate and support those interested in the breed, each year around 8,000 greyhounds are retired. The majority of these dogs are between three and five years old, and face an uncertain future.

Juniper could easily have fallen into this category had Johansson not come to her rescue. She doesn't know much about Juniper's career as a racer.

"I have her racing name and number so I can look her up and get her complete information and history but I've chosen not to," she said. "The only time I tried it took me about 10 minutes before breaking down to tears over the horrible fate these dogs suffer."

One thing she does know is that Juniper's life before amounted to little else other than racing and the little there was, wasn't all that good. "She slept in concrete cages," Johansson said. "She used to flinch when humans came near her."

Johansson still has vivid memories of the distressing condition Juniper was in when she first came to her.

"She had 'kennel coat' [coarse, patchy hair], itchy skin and crazy anxiety," she said. "We struggled to feed her cause she had been starved and would inhale all her food so quickly she threw it up."

Johansson recalled how "small spaces, loud noises would scare Juniper to the core and she'd be shaky for days." All Juniper had ever known was racing, so toys and treats were a completely foreign concept.

"It took her a year to understand playtime with humans or with other dogs," she said. "Trying to play fetch would just result in her standing there looking incredibly confused and me pretty much playing fetch with myself, trying to show her how to do it."

Johansson said it has been a "gradual process" to get Juniper to realize she was safe and, most importantly, loved but there have been some "moments of celebration" along the way.

"There was the first time she laid down to sleep when we had dinner instead of doing everything in her power to get it [from] us," she said. Other celebratory moments included "the first time she showed any interest in another dog and the first time she turned to me for comfort rather than hiding."

These days, Juniper sleeps in her own bed or a comfy couch rather than the cold, hard floor and though she's still wary of new people, she loves her human companion. "She comes and demands cuddles nowadays. Pushes up against you and tries to wiggle her head in under my hand to get ultimate cuddles," Johansson said.

Ultimately, she hopes the amazing progress Juniper has made will inspire others to rescue racing dogs.

"We need others to adopt and rehabilitate these dogs," Johansson said. "I want people to see these dogs as loving and caring family dogs. They're not machines you can run around a track all day until they don't make you money anymore."