When Meghan Kahler and Steven Halstead adopted the Japanese mastiff, he came with the name Daniel.He is a big, old goofy dog, emphasis on big. He has paws the size of saucers and a head the size of a volleyball. He tips the scale at more than 100 pounds, with a wide body and a back you could use as a coffee table.Daniel didn’t seem to be a good name, the couple thought. It didn’t seem to capture his personality, or his heritage, so they changed it. They named him Ham.It’s not short for Hamilton – as in the play or the founding father. It’s just Ham, “like Christmas ham,” Meghan said.It made sense. They adopted Ham around Christmas 2020. And just a few months before that, Ham was destined to become ham, having been rescued from a South Korean farm where dogs were bred and raised to be food.“We think we’re funny,” Steven said. “For a meat market dog, it’s a great name.” Ham was among 170 dogs liberated from a farm in late October last year, rescued by South Korean members of the Humane Society International’s Animal Rescue Team from the facility in Haemi, a rural town south of the capital, Seoul.Although dog meat is not a staple in the South Korean diet, it is still part of the nation’s tradition, particularly in rural parts of the country during what’s known as Bok days, the hottest days in late July and early August. Bok days are, quite literally, the dog days of summer. Consuming dog, it is believed, increases energy and brings luck and prosperity.The majority of South Koreans, though, abhor the practice. Eighty-four percent of South Koreans, according to a poll commissioned by the Humane Society, have never eaten dog meat and have no plans to do so. And a majority of South Koreans – 57 percent, according to the poll – believe that dog meat consumption reflects poorly on the nation, contributing to racist Asian stereotypes.The South Korean government, responding to increased pressure, both internationally and domestically, has been leaning toward banning dog meat. Authorities, in the past couple of years, have shut down some of the nation’s largest dog meat farms, markets and slaughterhouses.Among those was the farm in Haemi. The 170 dogs in the farm lived in terrible conditions, kept in cages, stacked one upon another in a long, seemingly haphazard structure fashioned from PVC pipe, corrugated metal sheets and plastic tarps.An investigator from the Humane Society described the conditions as “truly pitiful.” Nara Kim, the Humane Society’s dog meat campaign manager, said, “Every dog meat farm I’ve visited has a horrible stench of feces and rotting food, but there was something different about this dog farm; it had a smell of death. When we found these dogs, they had looks of utter despair on their faces that will haunt us forever.”Nine of the dogs wound up at the York County SPCA. All but one has been adopted, a difficult feat considering that these dogs would need special attention to make the transition from the dinner table to the couch.Watch video above: South Korea expected to grant legal status to animals to end years of abuse and abandonment

The CDC is banning dog imports from 113 countries at high risk of rabies, leaving American families overseas scrambling to get their pets home.

Thanks to the Puppy Rescue Mission, Stubbs the dog is on his way from Syria to his new forever home in North Carolina where he'll ultimately live with a U.S. soldier who bonded with him overseas. And Stubbs arrived in the U.S. just in the nick of time.  

"I’m so glad you got out.  I’m so glad you’re here. Hi, baby," said Cynthia Lion, a Puppy Rescue Mission volunteer.  

As of July 14, dogs imported from Syria and more than 100 other countries are banned by the CDC.

"Our main countries that we rescue from are Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. Anywhere that our deployed military are, we will help them get their battle buddy home. And all the countries I just mentioned, unfortunately, are on the banned list," said Anna Cannan, president and founder of the Puppy Rescue Mission. 

A CDC spokesperson told Newsy an estimated 1 million dogs enter the U.S. each year, and since 2015 a total of four imported dogs have tested positive for rabies.

But the agency saw an increased number of dogs arriving with "irregular" rabies vaccination paperwork in 2020, and that's what prompted the new temporary ban.

Part of the concern also stems from the pandemic.

"Reduced flight schedules have resulted in longer wait times for dogs denied entry to be returned to their country of departure. Prolonged wait times in airport warehouses have caused some dogs to get sick and die," the CDC spokesperson said.

For organizations like the Puppy Rescue Mission, the new rule might force them to turn soldiers away for the first time.

"We're getting a lot of distraught and fearful emails, are my dogs going to be able to get home? What can we do? Who can we reach out to? So they're grasping at strings right now, you know, they're afraid that they're going to have to leave their dogs behind," said Cannan.

The impact of this change goes far beyond rescue dogs like Stubbs. 

“I can't leave my dog here. I mean, she's just part of our family," said Aysu Erdemir, a dog owner. 

Aysu Erdemir and her family left the U.S. with their dog weeks before the rule change was announced. But because they're spending the summer in Turkey, they were left scrambling for a solution. The CDC did not offer any exceptions for families like them. 

"They say that you have to find a way to send your dog back or make arrangements in the foreign country. Like this is just so absurd," said Erdemir.

The agency is offering a waiver for U.S. diplomatic and military families, but the application process takes at least six weeks and some of the required testing can take two or three months. With just 30 days' notice, State Department employees like Casey Fegley had no choice but to change their travel plans. 

"And then to have to, last minute, change them when you're already dealing with packing up your house and doing your UAB and in our case, taking a kid to boarding school, and we've got all these other busy pieces. And it's like throwing one more ball at you to juggle when you're already juggling so much. And it was just ridiculous," said Casey Fegley, a State Department employee working at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The new dog import ban is in effect for at least one year. Puppy Rescue Mission is hoping they can find a way to keep helping soldiers get their battle buddies home to the U.S.

This story originally reported by Stephanie Liebergen on Newsy.com