After adventures including her abandonment on a freighter and quarantine on Kaua‘i, Hokget has a new home. Jan tenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser

She had already been greeted by most of the society staff, flash photography had repeatedly captured her image, there were strangers around, and her meshed carrier was out in the shelter entrance.

By midmorning, the pup was sitting in her carrier a first class seat on Aloha Airlines, headed for O'ahu and a new life with the family of Michael and Helen Kuo of Honolulu.

The Jack Russell terrier gained fame when she was left behind alone for nearly the entire month of April on the stricken tanker Insiko 1907, whose crew was evacuated after a fire killed one crew member and left the ship drifting without power.

A heroic rescue brought the dog to Hawai'i, and she went through her four months of quaranttine with the Kaua'i Humane Society.

Today, she is to join her new family, who are friends of Hokget's former owner, the tanker's skipper.

Society director Dr. Becky Rhoades said she believed the dog would handle the changes well. She is a smart, flexible animal, and the Kuo clan had been to visit during quarantine, so they would not be strangers.

Rhoades had accustomed the dog to the meshed carrier in which she would travel, and had taken her for a ride in the car to ensure that wasn't a new experience either.

Still, Hokget was shaking as she sat in the arms of Hawaiian Humane Society official Eve Holt in the truck on the way to the airport.

Whether it was out of fear or anticipation, Hokget wouldn't say.