Somewhere in Little Rock, five and a half years before Alana came to DogsOnly, Alana was a young pup of 6 weeks wondering the streets with her brothers and sisters. Eventually the litter was captured and taken to a shelter. At least the pups would now receive good food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep. One by one the pups were adopted, and off they went to their new homes, all that is, except Alana.

Perhaps because Alana was in such a pitiful state with patches of hair missing and sores all over her body, she was passed by in favor of other pups that had not been through as much as our girl.

As the years rolled by, visitors came and went from the shelter, but Alana was always the dog left behind. Over time she became institutionalized to the routine and withdrew more and more. The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into a blur, and people began to whisper that poor Alana would never get adopted.

Then one bright sunny morning in October 2004, a couple of volunteers from DogsOnly were visiting the shelter to pick up tickets for a charity ball; after all, don’t all the best fairy tails usually involve a ball. Usually Alana shied away from visitors, but for some unexplained reason Alana at first took an interest, and then a liking to one of the visiting DogsOnly volunteers. Within minutes the idea hatched that if Alana could leave the shelter to come to DogsOnly, perhaps, just perhaps, someone would take Alana into a loving home.

At first Alana wanted nothing to do with the outside world, but thanks to the care and love she received from her Princess Charming she quickly began to discover that the world and all the humans in it are not all as scary as Alana had imagined, and in no time at all Alana was running about with the other dogs in her new foster home, busy wagging her tail at everyone she met.

Alana spent her first Christmas in a real home of her own in 2004 all thanks to a ball, a Princess Charming, and a tenacious will to never give in. Perhaps we should have renamed her Cinderella.

Happy New Year.