The Animal Resource Center in Pennsylvania has never had more of a special adoption than Ella’s.
Life has a funny way of bringing kindred spirits together, and this heartwarming story from Bloomsburg proves exactly the serendipitous nature of life.
Ella waited seven years at the shelter to find her forever family, but it all ended up being exactly how it was meant to be.
It might be a good idea to grab a tissue for this one.
Meet Ella
Ella has been with Animal Resource Center, in Pennsylvania, on and off her entire life. Two times she has been adopted and returned to the shelter without any fault of her own.
On both times, her owners had to move and couldn’t find housing that would accept dogs.
She was first adopted as a puppy, and then returned three years later, and then again, adopted as an adult, and returned a year later.
Due to everything she had been through, Ella became fear aggressive and usually reacted poorly in new situations with strangers, which made it difficult to find her the perfect home.
However, with a proper introduction and patience, Ella transformed into a goofy and loveable dog.
For seven years, the shelter has been waiting to find a forever family for their beloved Ella, and in November 2023, it finally happened.
“Our shelter manager opened her e-mail to a message we’ve been hoping we’d get to see day after day over the last SEVEN years. The subject line: “Interested in adopting Ella”. Ella, our longest resident,” Animal Resource Center wrote in their Facebook post.
After an appointment to meet in person was scheduled, a woman named Kaitlyn came to the shelter.
She told the workers that her old dog, named Jo, passed away a couple of months ago, and she was finally ready to adopt another dog.
As I’ve mentioned before, Ella has some fear aggression, so it usually takes her a couple of visits to warm up to a new person.
But, surprisingly, not with Kaitlyn.
“When Ella first saw Kaitlyn, we think she already knew, that this is MY person. Ella is a dog that has fear aggression and needs multiple visits for her to get comfortable with you—Not with Kaitlyn, it’s like Ella picked HER. She immediately walked over to Kaitlyn with no hesitation, allowing her to give Ella scratches and pets right away.”
Immediately, there was a connection between the two, and just a few seconds later, everyone would understand why.
It Was Meant To Be
Towards the end of the appointment, Kaitlyn became teary-eyed and just kept staring at Ella’s neck.
It turned out that Kaitlyn recognized the bandana Ella was wearing, and she actually had a very dear connection to it.
“She looked up at staff, pulling up a picture of her dog, Jo wearing a bandana and said “This bandana that Ella is wearing, it’s Jo’s. I donated them all here when he passed”. Tears now filling staff’s eyes as well — out of the 20 dogs in our shelter right now, this bandana. This specific bandana. Jo’s bandana. It was on Ella.”
Out of all the dogs at the shelter, it was Ella who received Jo’s bandana. Maybe Kaitlyn and Jo’s scent was still on the bandana, which was why Ella felt so comfortable with Kaitlyn. She was already familiar to her.
Kaitlyn said, “I like to think of it as Jo’s stamp of approval”.
She adopted Ella the same day and brought her home, convinced that it was truly meant to be.
Ella was very loved at the shelter, so it was such a bittersweet moment for them, but they knew that she finally got what she had been dreaming of for the past seven years. The shelter expressed their goodbye by saying:
Every morning, Ella used to pop up off her bed and greet you at the door of her kennel right away. We’ll miss that tomorrow, it’ll be such a bittersweet moment realizing that as we pause to reflect on a few of our favorites times with Ella — but my goodness the amount of pure happiness we will feel everyday knowing Ella finally got what she deserved: ELLA GOT ADOPTED. 💕
