KATY – The witnesses who rescued a German Shepherd after it was ejected onto a busy road in the Katy area are sharing their story, hoping it serves as a wake-up call on how not to transport pets.
“He called me (and) he was like, ‘I think it’s dead. It’s dead. I don’t know what to do,’” said Andreina Montero, thinking back to Saturday afternoon when she got a frantic call from her boyfriend Daniel Arguello.
He was driving along Fry road and Franz when he noticed a German Shepherd riding unsecured in the back of a pick-up truck. Montero said he never expected what happened next.
“The light was about to turn red, and the truck just pressed the gas, and when he pressed the gas, that’s when the dog fell to the ground,” Montero said, adding she was nearby and rushed to the scene where they thought the dog had died, but regained consciousness.
“He stood up, he tried to walk, and then he just fell back again. And then he had blood on his mouth,” Montero said.
The couple said the dog then stumbled around a nearby parking lot before they got him into a Washateria where he was given water.
“He was snapping. I think he was in pain,” she said.
After searching Google and making several attempts at getting help, Montero got in touch with Lynn Goswick who is the president of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Houston.
“He was very frantic because she didn’t know how to proceed,” Goswick said.
Goswick offered the couple advice until SPCA arrived. Now, she’s offering advice to others thinking about transporting pets in truck beds.
“There are tethers you can buy if you can’t afford to put them in a cab if they’re too big. Or you can buy a crate and actually have them in their crates in the back of the truck,” Goswick said.
As for the pet, Montero said he was abandoned by the truck driver.
“The guy from SPCA was very nice, very cautious with him and they just took him,” Montero said.
If found, the driver of the truck could face animal cruelty charges. At last check, the dog was still at the SPCA recovering.