ANDERSON, Ind. (WTHR) — An Anderson shelter dog got a second chance Friday after spending 845 days at the Animal Protection League.
The 9-year-old Pitbull's name is “Baby Girl.” For almost three years she has been the favorite at the shelter. So of course, staff and volunteers gathered to throw her a big send off before going to her furever home.
“Her name suits her. She is our baby girl,” said Mary Duncan, the volunteer coordinator at the Animal Protection League. “She is the perfect dog, which blows my mind that she has been here for so long.”
Baby Girl hasn’t always been so loved. She first came to the shelter after living in poor conditions.
“When Baby Girl came to us, she was picked up because of neglect,” said Maleah Stringer, director of the shelter. “She had been found chained up outside. She was emaciated when she came here from an abandoned house.”
Stringer said an owner came forward but was unable to take care of her at the time. So they put Baby Girl in the shelter’s “Saving Max” program to take care of her until the owner could. Months went by, but the owner never came back.
“So Baby Girl has become a staff and volunteer favorite,” Stringer said. “She is the kind of dog who had such a miserable life before she came here that she thrived in a stressful shelter environment, which tells you the resilience of this dog and the heart of this dog.”
Besides Baby Girl’s old age, she also suffers from seizures.
“We managed for almost three years to keep this dog alive and thriving,” Stringer said.
When her new family arrived, Baby Girl’s tail did not stop wagging. Eric and Susannah Augustus drove from Kokomo to come to pick her up.
“I am kind of sentimental, honestly. I was looking for a dog that had been in for a while to try and give them a chance,” said Eric Augustus, Baby Girl’s new owner.
On day 845, Baby Girl said goodbye to her shelter family and drove off smiling with her new family.