Red gets his wheels!

For the first time since a car hit him in late October, Red, a Staffordshire Terrier, is running again.

A donated cart was sent to Celebration Station, a temporary triage center in Metairie, La., from Best Friends’ warehouse in Kanab, Utah. It fits Red perfectly.

Volunteer Chuck Johnson strapped him in to the aluminum cart. Then volunteers watched as Red, for the first time in two-and-a-half months, was on the move once again.

Red’s face was intent as he circled the building several times, with volunteers by his side. Most of all they were surprised he took off so fast, Chuck said.

Red didn’t skip a beat. Once inside the center, he ran the perimeter of the first floor and also played with a border collie mix as they chased after a tennis ball.

Red seemed to know almost immediately how to use the cart. He backed up and cornered, using the road around the building almost as if it were a racetrack.

“It’s wonderful to see,” said David Halperin, a trapper who picked up Red with Best Friends staffer Jeff Popowich. “He looks so happy.”

Even after he was injured, David said Red was happy.

They met him after they got a call about a pit who’d been hit by a car.

“He was conscious but obviously in bad shape,” David said. “He had really bad road rash, and skin was missing from his shoulders and face.”

Worst of all, he appeared to be paralyzed from the waist down.

After the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, Red was found by a New Orleanian, who fed him. When he was hit by a car on a nearby street late one night, Red was able to make it back to his temporary home.

“He dragged himself back to the house,” David said. “A trail of blood could be seen over pipes on the ground and into the driveway.”

Red ended up making it into the back yard, resting behind an air conditioner.

David and Jeff lifted Red into a crate, then took him to an emergency hospital, where he stayed for the next couple of months. He underwent back surgery and now needs rehabilitation. While he was in the hospital, David visited him once a week. “He was glad to see me and always wanted to play,” said David, who has been in New Orleans off and on since September. “If I do nothing else good on this trip, Red has made it all worthwhile.

“ I once severed my sciatic nerve and had to learn to walk again, and I was not as good a patient as Red. He’s a happy boy.”

Article by Cathy Scott. Photo by Carol Guzy.

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Note: All animals rescued in New Orleans are first taken to the Louisiana SPCA for triage where photos are taken and uploaded and vaccinations given before heading to the Best Friends rescue center at Celebration Station where animals are held for 5 days before being placed for adoption.