photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog is pictured with her best friend and "business partner" Raven Rajani.

Around 2010 when Raven Rajani was looking to adopt a dog, a tiny female puppy at a rural animal shelter in Arkansas caught her eye.

Rajani had been looking online at loads of cuddly rescues with melt-your-heart puppy faces and wiggly tails. She would come away thinking “well, that’s cute!”

But then, for some reason, she’d scroll back to the Staffordshire terrier in Arkansas named Dolores — the Spanish word for pain and sorrow.

“I just kept going back to her, thinking I don’t know what it is about her, but it’s just … there’s something special,” Rajani said of the gray pup, whom she called “literally the plainest” one of the lot. “My boyfriend at the time was like ‘I wouldn’t drive across the street for that ugly dog.'”

Rajani, though, would drive almost 1,000 miles.

And it’s a good thing she did, she said, because the bond that she formed with Dolores — promptly renamed Shakti after the Hindu goddess of female creative energy — has become one of the most rewarding in her experience.

“She changed my life,” Rajani said.

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog dressed as a bear

Not only did Shakti become a cherished personal companion, but she became a business partner too.

Lawrence residents might recognize Shakti as the longtime face of Loving Paws Animal Therapy Association. Or they might have just seen her around town without knowing she’s the CEO (Chief Eating Officer) of that nonprofit. If you’ve seen a porky critter who looks like a miniature hippo wearing a tutu, that was probably her.

Rajani, a Lawrence therapist, founded Loving Paws in her last year of graduate school at KU, and Shakti, who largely inspired the idea, became her first certified therapy dog.

Loving Paws aims to promote the human-animal bond and to provide positive support for people in vulnerable circumstances.

Shakti has been on hand in almost every imaginable setting, including schools, homeless shelters, libraries, detention centers, nursing homes, hospitals, cancer centers, rehab clinics and many private settings.

Her job is to be a calm, accepting presence who gives and receives affection without judgment.

Maybe that doesn’t sound too hard, but it’s something few people can really do to the same effect, Rajani said.

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

One student who met Shakti told Rajani that the dog had saved her life. The student said she was suicidal and “just not ready to get up” anymore, but when she reluctantly attended an event, Shakti picked her out and “literally sat on her lap the entire hour,” offering warmth and tenderness and gratefully accepting pets and kisses.

“She shows up one hundred percent of the time,” Rajani said. “We just reach out and show up for people that are vulnerable, that are in situations or circumstances that are heavy or hard.”

There was that one time, though, when Shakti didn’t show up. She was about 3 years old and gallivanting around one of her favorite places, the dog park out by Clinton Lake. A sucker for any kind of swimming hole, Shakti got into a little pond out there and wouldn’t come out no matter what.

Rajani, at wit’s end, went to get some people to help her, but when they returned to the pond, Shakti was nowhere to be seen. Rajani, in a full panic, enlisted about 20 volunteers to scour the entire area.

“We were out there all damn day,” she said, until one of Rajani’s friends said, “hold on.”

Through the brush and pond weeds, the friend had spotted something that looked like alligator eyes and nostrils just above the waterline. It was Shakti, enjoying her own little spa day in defiance of the search party. Once the jig was up, she emerged from her hiding place, covered in leeches and sludge, to be mildly scolded — and madly hugged.

Another scare, just last year, was far more serious. Shakti was attacked by another dog and nearly died, but she managed to survive after many days — and many thousands of dollars — of emergency pet care, Rajani said.

It was worth every penny, though, to get the past year with Shakti, Rajani said, because she recently discovered that this year is almost certainly Shakti’s last.

On Christmas Eve, Rajani got the news that a lump her daughter felt in Shakti was lymphoma. Rajani decided that because Shakti is nearly 14 years old she would not put her through any painful cancer treatments.

Instead, knowing how much Shakti loves people (and vice versa), she is giving her a celebration of life — not after she dies, but while she is still enjoying life. For the event, Rajani has rented out Liberty Hall from 1 to 3 p.m. on Jan. 25, when people can stop by and interact with Shakti, who “will prance in there in her tutu.”

“It’s just an opportunity for her to get loved on and to love people,” Rajani said, and everyone is invited (though dogs should be left at home).

A book will also be available for people to write down their memories of Lawrence’s most well-known four-legged therapist.

“I guarantee someone will remember the pond issue,” Rajani said. “Somebody that comes will be like remember when?”

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog in costume

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work at KU

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog at work

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog

photo by: Contributed

Shakti the therapy dog with Raven Rajani