Dog ditched near flooding drainage ditch needs a home

MISSOURI CITY, Texas — As Tropical Storm Imelda bore down on Missouri City Tuesday, someone tied their dog to a barbed wire fence, abandoning it near KHOU 11’s transmitter.

Luckily, KHOU 11 engineer Jason Barnett was there to recuse the pup, who was just beside a ditch that was quickly filling with water.

“He was shivering. He was cold and had been here for probably a couple hours,” Barnett said. “There was no food. There was no water.”

Barnett gave the dog a few peanut butter crackers to gain his trust, then untied him and put him in his car.

“It breaks your heart, you know? It’s really sad to see an animal abandoned like that. No animal should be treated like that,” he said.

Barnett is temporarily housing the dog at his home, much to his two sons’ delight.

“He’s really playful,” said 9-year-old Thomas.

“He’s pretty much happy all the time,” added 7-year-old Nathan.

The dog is male and neutered and seems to be in good shape. The Barnetts say he’s friendly with people and animals and weighs about 50 pounds.

Although the Barnetts say they’d like to keep the pup, they already have three other dogs and a cat and can’t.

Barnett said he has avoided giving him a name.

“I don’t want to get attached!” he said.

However, the kids came up with one on their own.

“I like to call him Chocolate, and my brother likes to call him Larry,” Thomas said. “We call him Cho-Larry! Chocolate. Larry. Cho-Larry!”

The Houston SPCA has agreed to take “Cho-Larry” in to get ready for adoption. The Barnetts will take him there Thursday.

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