Just in time for Christmas: Polina adopted after 445 days at KC Pet Project shelter

Finally, after a shelter record of 445 days, Polina, the lumbering 7-year-old Mastiff mix, has a home to go to — just in time for Christmas.

The KC Pet Project shelter, in the end, had several suitors calling on the dog that had been featured in The Star a few days ago.

Polina was that dear-but-hard-to-appreciate kind of dog that gets left behind when prospective pet owners look to adopt a rescued animal. The biggest obstacle: She is scared of other dogs and children.

“She has gone through so much,” Tori Fugate, spokeswoman for the KC Pet Project, said Sunday.

Polina will be spending Christmas in a Kansas City home, able to roam across three acres, with a large, warm bed to lie in. KC Pet Project staff chose Polina’s new family after talking with them and visiting the home to see that the fit was right and that Polina would settle in.

When it came time to say goodbye, KC Pet Project staff who had known her so long “were crying big, ugly ol’ tears,” Fugate said. “They loved her so much.”

But they were also tears of joy. The staff had worked hard to build her confidence, which had been drained when she was found wandering alone along Northeast 83rd Street in Kansas City in October 2016. The staff will continue to work with Polina and her new family to build her confidence.

The effort to get Polina adopted highlighted a larger campaign by KC Pet Project to find homes for their pets, as nearly 300 were adopted during the holiday season, Fugate said.

“It’s a big Christmas story,” she said.

This story was originally published December 24, 2017 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Just in time for Christmas: Polina adopted after 445 days at KC Pet Project shelter."