Polly and Karen Grane

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From hungry stray to perfect lady, our Featured Pet “Polly” has a story that is reminiscent of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Replacements, Ltd. Purchasing Agent Karen Grane first met Polly five years ago at a high school in Florida.  Students were feeding her spicy chicken wings, and Karen made them stop, since the hot spices and the chicken bones would be bad for the dog.

“Polly looked up at me like I was crazy,” Karen says. “She was hungry, what was my problem?”  The school electrician, who had given Polly her name and had been looking after her but could not give her a home, carried Polly to Karen’s vehicle. “At the time, she was afraid of riding in the car,” Karen says. “Now, of course, she’s an experienced traveler.”

Back home in North Carolina, Karen confirmed with veterinarians that being hungry was the least of Polly’s problems.  She tested positive for heartworms, she was malnourished, and she had been physically abused.  And there was one little detail the vets overlooked – Polly was pregnant.  One evening, as Karen was preparing Polly for her heartworm treatment, she delivered a single puppy into Karen’s hands.  Karen’s son took a look at the big pup and said, “Wow, what a tank!”  And so young “Tank” earned his name.

Tank joined the pack with Polly and Karen’s other dog, “Cash Flow,” usually just called “Flow.”  “I thought about changing Polly’s name, because matched with Flow, the two names sound like a pair of old waitresses,” Karen says.  “But Polly is a Polly.  She took to air conditioning and our king-size bed like a duck to water.  And it was wonderful to watch her learn to play with toys, and not cower anytime someone raised a hand around her.”

But three dogs don’t complete Karen’s pet household.  “Did I mention we have three cats?” Karen says.  “Each dog has a personal cat.”  While Flow and Tank don’t come into work, “No one has to worry about them,” Karen says.  “They play with each other and the cats and get plenty of love when Mom and Polly get home.”

Now Polly is heartworm-free, spayed, and “pleasantly plump, like her mother,” Karen says. “She loves coming to work,” Karen says about the Replacements, Ltd. pet-friendly policy.  “From the time she comes in each morning until she leaves at night, everyone greets her.  She’s petted and fussed over like a beauty queen, and of course, she gets plenty of treats!  We only can welcome well-behaved pets to our facilities,” Karen says.  “But as anyone who works here will tell you, Polly’s the perfect lady.”

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