The heartwarming moment a senior pit bull got to explore her new forever home after spending 11 years in a shelter has been captured on camera.

Lucia made no effort to contain her excitement as she explored the home of her new human companion, Liz Scollo, and after more than a decade without a place to call her own, who could blame her? There was a yard to explore, couches to climb up on and amazing smells to be sniffed everywhere she looked.

Scollo is a dog trainer, specializing in separation anxiety and reactivity. She also worked with Villalobos Rescue Center in Louisiana, the shelter where Lucia was previously housed, so was the perfect person to give her the life she so desperately deserved.

Scollo isn't entirely sure why Lucia struggled to get adopted. "We have shown her in plenty of meet and greets. We have advertised her. Unfortunately she just was never chosen. Nobody ever picked her," she told Newsweek.

The fact that Lucia struggled around other canines could have been a factor. "Lucia has never really enjoyed playing with other dogs," Scollo said. "That can make it a little more difficult for some dogs to be adopted."

Research has shown that long-term shelter dogs tend to fit a certain profile. A 2021 analysis of long-term shelter stays conducted as part of a study published in the journal Animals found that these dogs tended to be of older age, male, large in size, neutered, and considered a "dangerous breed."

The Villalobos Rescue Center describes itself as being for "Pit Bulls and Parolees on Animal Planet" so would have no doubt been aware of the negative and often inaccurate perception that surrounds certain breeds like Lucia.

Many dogs in her position might have struggled with being in a shelter for so long, but Scollo said that was never the case with Lucia.

"Lucia never really struggled with rescue life, she is a dog who has always been in good spirits, happy all the time," she said. "I think her life before us was not very good and we have always given her so much love."

Now Lucia is enjoying the kind of life that was out of reach for so long.

"She loves car rides," Scollo said. "She just loves to tag along and be a part of whatever we are doing. She also loves to cuddle and has to be plastered to me in bed."

Scollo hopes Lucia's story inspires others to take a chance on senior dogs or pups who have been in the shelter for an extended period of time.

"Just because a dog has been in a rescue or shelter for a while, it does not mean there is something wrong with them," she said. "Seniors are amazing and often get overlooked so please consider opening your heart and home to one, I promise it will be the most incredible experience for you and life changing for that dog."