True Story of Raggedy Anne

By Tanya M. Petrokov

From The Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS):

It has been said many times that we do not choose our pets, but rather they select us. A prospective pet owner may arrive at the shelter with a clear set of criteria and wind up going home with an animal of the opposite size, personality, colour and age. In some instances, a planned cat adoption suddenly turns in to the new pet dog, or vice versa.

This is the true story of Raggedy Anne, an adorable bearded Collie rescued from a ditch many years ago. She was half-starved, had a wound on her leg and was badly matted. After being patched up and groomed she was given the go ahead to be placed up for adoption. Her beautiful looks, kind disposition and the fact that she was house-broken, meant that she was quickly adopted. In fact, Raggedy Anne was adopted seven times from LAWS! Yet, each time she arrived with her new adoptive family she would be on her worst possible behaviour. She was accused of being destructive, not house-trained (which she definitely was), running away and badly behaved. Finally, by the seventh attempt Raggedy Anne had found the home she was searching for. She was the perfect house-guest, well-trained, non-destructive, loyal and loving. A year later her family left on vacation and Raggedy Anne was put in the care of a neighbour. Guess what? Yes, she ran away again. Raggedy Anne was dropped off at the shelter a few days later by a couple who said they would have loved to keep her, but she had issues. Later that day, her family came to LAWS to claim her and off they went happy to be re-united again. Raggedy Anne was never heard from again and went on to live a fantastic life with her new family. The moral to this story is that there may be an animal at the shelter waiting for you. Although you may not have contemplated choosing him/her, you may be just the person they had in mind!