Columbia Woman Gives Stray Dog a Home, Wins National Sweepstakes

What they tell you about karma is true. Karla Bates of Columbia, S.C. is proof that good things happen to good people.

Earlier this week, Bates was announced as the Grand Prize winner of the Comfort Zone Cool Cat Sweepstakes and was awarded a pet-friendly, four-night getaway to Key West for her, a guest and the cat or dog of her choice. As it turns out, Bates’s pet of choice is not her cat, not any of her three pugs, but her dalmatian, Dos.

Dos is special because five years ago Bates’s friend found the stray pup walking along the interstate and rescued him. He had a severe case of heart worms at the time. During a New Year’s Eve party at the friend’s house, Bates and her husband fell in love with the Dalmatian and, without any hesitation, left the party with a new family member. Dos had stolen their heart, and he was quickly welcomed into their family, which already consisted of 3 dogs and a cat.

Out of more than 22,000 total entries in the Comfort Zone Cool Cat Sweepstakes Grand Prize drawing, Bates’s name was the one randomly selected. She entered the sweepstakes after learning about it from a friend on Facebook, where the sweepstakes was hosted from May 30 – July 31. Now that’s what we call good karma.