!!! VALENTINE’S ADOPTION !!! HANK WILLIAMS, Jr. was adopted this past weekend for the second time. He was adopted first in 2023, but the adopters couldn’t keep him and he and his housemate, Billy (adopted last month), were returned in April.Hank’s story is one of resilience and survival, luck and happenstance, overcoming fears, and the kindness and generosity of the human heart. If his story was a series on Netflix, you’d binge-watch it and definitely cry at the end. Hank was at the shelter and on the euthanasia list in 2021 when RHS pulled him. He went into a series of foster homes, was adopted and returned, and then more foster homes. Because he’s afraid of new people, his circle of humans remained small (and pool of applicants even smaller), but those who got to know him love him deeply, for his heart is bigger, kinder, and more human than most humans. When his adopter, RHS volunteer Paola Aldana, first met Hank, he brought her a toy. This is what he does if he likes you. After that, Hank would stay with her occasionally when his foster, Miranda, would go out of town. Then he started staying over more regularly. He was with her when her own dog passed away and helped keep her company, and a little less sad. He never went back to Miranda’s.
This past weekend when we celebrated his adoption with his oh-so-small circle of friends, we asked us why she decided to adopt. She got a little choked up, but finally said her previous dog, Nicte, had come to her in a dream. In the dream, Nicte said “keep him”. Paola said, “Keep who?”. “Keep Hank”.
Thank you to RHS for taking Hank in, to Miranda & Scott Ragland for fostering him, to his friends at Wiggle Butt Academy for helping him get over some of his fears, and for all of those in his oh-so-small circle.
