Rita: Texas Stray Dog Finds Forever Home After Living on the Streets

This is the Story of Rita, from the streets of Texas, to a loving home.

Rita lived on the streets of Houston as a stray for her whole life. Though we don't know for sure, the state of her teeth would suggest many years trying to eat whatever she could to stay alive. Most strays don't live that long, but Rita did.

She was brought into a Houston shelter as a pregnant senior. She was immediately slated for euthanasia. The staff loved her so much, they went to bat for her to network her and get her out. She was transferred to a Rescue that moved her into a boarding situation, where she whelped her babies. Unfortunately, Rita's story doesn't get better after being 'rescued'. This Boarder actually ended up being a Hoarding situation. Dogs were living in filth, tethered in ankle deep feces and mud, forced into too small crates, and passing sickness and disease between all of them. Every single one of Rita's puppies died. She was kept in this situation for an untold number of months until we were finally able to understand what was happening at this business. We pulled as many dogs as we could, including Rita.

Rita enjoying her new life (Path of Hope Facebook)

Rita came to the Pacific Northwest to find a new life, but she still had an uncertain future. She was discovered to be Heartworm positive on arrival and already had a cough, indicating advanced stages of the disease. Cardiac imaging showed extensive damage to her heart and the vets prepared us for the worst. Rita had already proved she was a fighter and it was clear that she wasn't ready to stop fighting. We opted for a slower but safer version of heartworm treatment that usually takes 12 months. Rita became heartworm free in just four months! She still holds the record for our fastest negative ever!

Rita was placed in a foster home and soon we started seeing major behavior issues. The 'street cred' that had kept Rita safe on the streets of Houston for so many years was starting to rear its ugly head. The kind of behavior was truly frightening: waiting until a dog's back was turned to stalk them and attack. It was extreme enough that we considering euthanasia, as we couldn’t see any way to safely adopt her out. It was heart wrenching to think of everything she had survived and this would be the insurmountable obstacle that would take her life. As a last result, we reached out to our trusted trainer and asked what to do.

Rita taking a nap without the fear of living on the streets (Path of Hope Facebook)

Courtney, with Courtney's Canine College, felt my distress and told me that she needed a 'project dog' to document and show what she could do with training. Her rates are normally $1,000/week, but she offered to take Rita on for free. And we agreed that if this didn't work, we would have to euthanize. I hung up that call with tears in my eyes. Rita would have another shot.

Within just a few weeks, Courtney built a level of trust with Rita and showed her that she didn't need to be in charge anymore. She didn't have to worry about her safety, because her humans would do that for her now. Rita went from a dominant bully trying to stay alive, to trusting her new human leaders. At approximately 8 years old, we watched this tough street dog learn how to play for the first time in her life, how to interact with other dogs and become the playful loving puppy that she never had the chance to be.

Not only did Courtney rehabilitate her, but she continued to foster her for months, all without charging us a dime.

Rita visiting the Bryce Canyon in Utah with her human family (Path of Hope Facebook)

Rita had been with the Rescue for a year when she started coughing. We knew she was heartworm free, but we also knew because she had the disease for so long that there was a lot of damage already done, that we couldn't do anything about. We assumed Rita was in congestive heart failure and prepared Courtney to be her hospice foster. We had new imaging done and Rita, once again, defied the odds. The damage was present but she wasn't the hospice case we thought she was.

Because of her poor health prognosis, her age, and our requirement that she be an only dog - her adoption options were slim. She had been with us for 14 months without a single real prospect.

This is when we changed our tactic in advertising her; Adopters are willing to overlook a look of issues, if they are able to meet the dog first and form an emotional connection. Rita had become an absolute sweetheart, but no one knew that. And because of our application first methods, no one ever would.

Rita sitting next to the bear statue at the Visit Center (Path of Hope Facebook)

We decided to hold a "Long Term Residents'' event immediately. We organized a very simple event at a local brewery and invited people to come meet our four long term residents via social media. Because of a rainy day, it was very poorly attended. But Rita stole the show, making sure every single person who was there knew just how snuggly and loving she was. Anyone who squatted down to her level would immediately receive a head nuzzled into their chest and she would bowl them over to lay on them. Someone there texted their friend John, "you have to come meet this dog". He did and he fell in love. And Rita was officially adopted shortly after that event.

Some dogs have a longer journey than others. Rita's took almost her whole life. Fortunately, Rita found her happy ever after and John got a best friend and traveling companion.

Rita has found her forever home, but many of our foster dogs & puppies from Texas are still waiting for adoption. You can check our Available Dogs over here.

We’re a Volunteer-Based Rescue in Spokane, if you’re looking to join us on our mission to save more dogs & puppies, you can Become a Volunteer today!