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.
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