An Aberdeenshire woman has revealed why she abandoned a dog at a train station along with a suitcase full of its belongings.
The image of Kai the shar-pei went around the world after an animal rescue charity found him tied up and alone in a waiting area.
Fin Rayner, 39, of Newmachar,said she left the dog behind after an arrangement to buy him for her nine-year-old daughter went horribly wrong.
Miss Rayner, who travelled almost 200 miles to fetch the pet, said she panicked after starting to fear the dog had been stolen.
It also became clear that it was not the same dog that had been advertised for sale on the internet for £400, she added.
The mum-of-three said she had been messaging back and forwards with the advertiser for a couple of days about the dog, who went up for sale under the name Pluto.
She said the man tried to delay meeting her, even though she told him they would arrive at Ayr Railway Station at 4pm to view the dog.
Miss Rayner said: “He obviously wanted me to see the dog in the dark, but I didn’t realise this until afterwards.
“He turned up eventually and he stopped in his car and he told me to go up to the car park, which was even darker.
“He opened the door, came out with the dog on the lead and the suitcase. Right away I could see that there was a problem with the dog’s eyes and he looked skinny,” added Miss Rayner.
“I wear glasses and I didn’t have them with me so I thought maybe I needed to take him into the light to have a proper look at him.”
Miss Rayner said she became suspicious when the dog owner said he was in a hurry and was not keen for her to take the shar-pei for a walk to check him over.
He asked her to give him a deposit so she handed over £150 then walked towards the station door.
She said: “Before I got to the door, I looked back and he was gone – he had disappeared in his car. I got into the station and the dog wasn’t settling. He was pulling on the lead and peeing everywhere.
“I thought that it wasn’t my dog – I didn’t want him.”
Miss Rayner said she felt sorry for the animal and called its owner to let tell him to come back for his pet and he agreed.
She said she waited 15 minutes, knowing that she had to get on the next train to Glasgow to catch the last bus back to Aberdeen.
Miss Rayner feared she had no option but to return home with the dog – but changed her mind after she got a phone call from her teenage son.
He warned her that Kai could have been stolen.
She said: “I panicked. I suffer from a panic disorder so I panicked even more and thought I could have a stolen dog now.”
Miss Rayner said that she has now decided not to buy another pet for her family.
The Scottish SPCA said it had received offers from all over the world to rehome Kai.
More than £2,500 has been raised by the charity following an appeal to fund an operation on his eyes.
The Scottish SPCA said it has “never had a response quite like this before”.