A scared and confused rescue puppy has undergone an incredible transformation in a matter of days after spending time with a foster carer.

When Liberty the eight-month-old cavalier King Charles spaniel/bichon frise cross first arrived at the home of her foster family, she was in a bad way.

A video posted to TikTok by her new foster carers, shared under the handle bluebearsea, Liberty can be seen cowering and cautiously moving around one of her new human companions and another dog in the family's care.

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What Liberty's life was like before that day remains unknown. Newsweek made multiple attempts to contact bluebearsea to find out more about her story.

It's clear though that whatever came before was not good. In a separate video posted to the same account, the foster carer behind the account acknowledges as much. The clip says the first eight months of Liberty's life were "pretty tough," to the point where she is only now "learning how to be a dog."

That involves playing with toys for the first time, running around with her fellow foster dogs and, most importantly of all, receiving love and affection from her new carers. You can watch the footage here.

A little love can go a long way for a shelter dog. A 2018 study from Applied Animal Behavior Science found that just 15 minutes of one-on-one petting was enough to boost the overall well-being of a shelter dog.

Liberty is living proof of the impact care and attention from a foster carer can have.

In the same video posted by bluebearsea, Liberty can be seen, just 12 days after her arrival, happily running around a tree in the same backyard she was previously seen carefully plodding about in.

She is in the company of several other dogs and, despite the clip being filmed at a distance, it's clear that all of the canines are enjoying themselves.

An onscreen caption, split into two parts over the footage, sums up the reason for the change. "To be loved...is to be changed."

At the time of writing, the bluebearsea video of Liberty has been watched over 240,000 times, sparking delight among social media's animal-loving community.

"Oh what is happening to my eyes," one emotional viewer wrote. "The difference in 12 days is phenomenal. She must feel so safe with you all," a second commented. "She was still so curious even with all that fear," a third added.

Elsewhere, one noted: "Having another dog helps tremendously." Liberty's foster carer responded: "The dogs taught her that all is safe here, she's just now learning that I'm safe too."