How KPRC 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez, his family helped rescue 2 dogs during Hurricane Harvey

A daring rescue, a loving shelter & a plane flight to LAX, gave two dogs their fur-ever home

Harvey, left, and Houston in the left panel before their adoption and today with Anthony Yanez and his family in their Houston-area home. (Anthony Yanez, Copyright 2022 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.)

HOUSTON – Two weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, two dogs were wandering the streets of Houston. They were inseparable. A gentleman saw the dogs on his way to work and on the way home. He knew something had to be done. As the storm neared the Texas coastline, this man was able to wrangle these two dogs into his car and take them to Red Collar Rescue.

Here’s a photo of the dogs before they were brought to the rescue:

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After being saved from the streets a shelter needed to be found (Anthony Yanez)

Here they are at Red Collar Rescue just after they were pulled off the Houston streets:

Two young dogs looking for a home (Copyright 2021 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.)

You know the story of the torrential downpours. And how incredible flooding caused many dogs to get separated from their families. Thousands of animals packed the shelters hoping their families would find them. But these two dogs did not have a home to go back to.

Red Collar was overflowing and needed space. That’s when Charlotte Liberda, of Red Collar, called us in Los Angeles. Our two large dogs we got from Red Collar when we lived in Houston had recently passed away and Charlotte asked if we were ready to adopt again. In her mind, these two had to stay together and not many families are willing to adopt two large-breed dogs. We had many friends whose homes flooded, and our hearts broke for them. We felt hopeless not being to help in anyway. This felt like a small way to lend a hand to our dear friends in Houston. We said yes!

Princeton & Harvard were loaded on to this van and taken to the plane headed toward LAX. (Anthony Yanez)

We worked out the details and Princeton and Harvard as Charlotte called them were flown to LAX. We picked them up and named them Houston and Harvey.

This was the first time our family laid eyes on the pups:

Our two youngest are eager to get them out of their enclosure (Anthony Yanez)

This is my daughter Aubrey showing the dogs the backyard for the first time. They were so happy to see the grass.

My youngest daughter loves Harvey! (Anthony Yanez)

Los Angeles was their home for four years.

Houston & Harvey at the Hollywood sign with one of our neighbors (Anthony Yanez)
My youngest son loves Houston! (Anthony Yanez)

It was a year ago today that Houston and Harvey came back to their birthplace. The Yanez family moved back to Houston.

Harvey and my youngest running together (Anthony Yanez)
Have you noticed these two dogs are always together? (Anthony Yanez)

By the way, all four of our cats are from Texas too. They are all rescues and two are from Red Collar. If you’re looking for an adopted pet, you might want to consider Red Collar. We’ve had a great experience with them.

Did you get a new rescue during or around Harvey? Share a photo and your story with us on Click2Pins.com and we could feature your pet’s journey home.

If you'd like to donate to Red Collar go to the website. (Anthony Yanez)

About the Author:

Two-time Emmy award winning meteorologist and recipient of the 2022 American Meteorological Society’s award for Excellence in Science Reporting by a Broadcast Meteorologist.