After spending more than eight years at A Second Chance Animal Shelter, Kali – the shelter’s longest resident – has finally found her freedom. Thanks to the collaboration of rescuers, trainers, and advocates across multiple states, the 10-year-old lab/bully mix is now living in a home environment for the first time in her life.
Kali arrived at the Manning shelter in November 2018 after being found wandering near U.S. 521 in eastern Clarendon County. Despite being heartworm-positive and a bully breed, two traits that often make adoptions more difficult, she became a staff favorite. Over time, she was fully treated, healthy, and ready for adoption, but years passed with no interest.
That changed earlier this year when Vickie Richardson, rescue coordinator for BARK Rescue in Bishopville, toured the shelter while pulling two other dogs. “They showed me Kali and told me she’d been there eight years,” Richardson said. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought, we’ve got to help this dog.”
Richardson shared Kali’s story on social media, where it caught the attention of Carol Russo, an animal advocate living in North Carolina. Russo said she couldn’t stop thinking about the senior dog after seeing the post. “I love senior dogs, and I just couldn’t understand how one had lived in a kennel that long,” she said. “I knew she’d need help learning to live in a home, so I offered to sponsor her training.”
Russo worked with Richardson and Elizabeth Holbrook, A Second Chance’s rescue coordinator, to arrange an evaluation with trainer Danielle Bellnap, who agreed to take Kali for an extended board-and-train program. “Kali had to unlearn kennel habits,” Russo said. “Danielle’s been teaching her to walk nicely on leash, respect boundaries, and feel comfortable in a house. She’s blossomed. She’s polite, affectionate, and happy.”
After nine weeks of training, Kali will leave Bellnap’s care and move into a foster home with Russo in Bolivia, NC. There, she’ll be under the care of Empowering Pawz, a Calabash-based nonprofit founded by Kara Cosby, which will handle her vet appointments and adoption promotion.
Cosby’s group previously rescued another long-term Second Chance resident, a dog named Daisy, who was adopted earlier this year. When Richardson reached out for help with Kali, Cosby didn’t hesitate. “Kara really stepped up,” Russo said. “Empowering Pawz is giving her that final bridge between the shelter and her forever home.”
Kali’s story is a testament to patience and teamwork. “Kali is a very lucky girl to have some amazing ladies sticking by her. Not many dogs get that chance ,” Bellnap said. “She’s truly special.”
After nearly a decade of waiting, the golden-grinned senior who once watched other dogs come and go is finally experiencing life on the other side of the kennel door – proof that patience, teamwork, and a little faith can truly change a life.
