Kai can today be regarded as a lucky dog, but his lot was not an easy one. In 2015 Kai’s then owner was keen to sell. So keen in fact that the owner duped an interested buyer into meeting him and Kai at Ayr railway station. But before the buyer could make their decision, the unscrupulous owner speeded off never to be seen again.
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His doing so left the prospective buyer, Fin Rayner, stranded. Unable to take Kai home, Ms Rayner left the dog on its own at the station.
Winning the lottery
Pictures of the abandoned Shar-pei cross flooded the internet. The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals cared for Kai and soon advertised him for adoption.
Ian Russell, an engineer from Glasgow got in touch. On his first visit to Kai, it was love at first sight. Mr Russell, who had lost his own dog to illness just before Christmas that year, was smitten with Kai, and decided to adopt.
Russell told the Mail Online he felt as though he had won the lottery.
In a recent interview Russell revealed how people still recognise Kai from the pictures of his lonely vigil on the platform at Ayr station, and how some have nicknamed him "Paddington Ayr”.