AIKEN --- Serena Briggs can sense when someone's feeling down and out.

The black Labrador-German shepherd mix always seems to lift others up, said her owner, Steve Briggs.

"She has an exceptional temperament, and it has a calming effect on a lot of people," he said.

Serena is one of 52 dogs from across the nation featured in Elise Lufkin's book, To The Rescue . The book, which was released Sunday, highlights the benefit of rescuing abandoned dogs and their ability to serve humans as therapy, seeing-eye and search-and-rescue dogs. All proceeds from the book are donated to shelters and animal welfare organizations.

Serena, accompanied by Mr. Briggs, has visited nursing homes, schools and hospital oncology and psychiatric wards for a year to help those suffering physical, emotional and mental ailments, Mr. Briggs said.

"I've watched a man's blood pressure drop 40 points when she visited him," he said. "For a lot of the patients, it's the highlight of their day. People who haven't smiled in a long time smile when Serena comes around."

Before Mr. Briggs and his wife, Doris, adopted her, Serena had been left abandoned in Augusta for several months in 2007, Mr. Briggs said. Molly's Militia, an Augusta rescue shelter, took Serena in less than 24 hours before she would have been euthanized at a local animal shelter.

Mr. Briggs and his wife, who lived in Florida at the time, were traveling through the Aiken area and saw an advertisement in the local paper about a dog at Molly's Militia. While browsing the rescue shelter's Web site, they found Serena.

"We took her back to the hotel with us," he said. "She was perfectly well-behaved. We even let her loose, and she came back to us."

Mr. Briggs said he was later told about the Delta Society, a human services organization that promotes animals as a way to improve the health of humans. The organization trains animals to serve as therapy to sick humans. Serena had to be tested to ensure she could handle high-stress situations.

"It's very intense," he said. "She passed with flying colors."

Ms. Lufkin, who also wrote the books Found Dogs and Second Chances , said she received hundreds of stories from pet owners when she solicited personal accounts of service dogs for the book on the Delta Society's Web site.

"I was drawn to Serena's story, because although she had a tough start, she managed to overcome her fears and worries she may have had as she adjusted to life with Steve Briggs and his wife, Doris," she said in an e-mail. "He and Serena put in a great deal of time on their therapy work, visiting a number of places and giving of themselves to bring comfort."