Who can forget the image a year ago of a pit bull in murky floodwaters, the one who dove in and swam after a rescue boat? His face was intent and his purpose clear; he wasn’t going to let them leave without him.
What the dog didn’t realize was that the boat -- with rescuers Jeff Popowich and Ethan Gurney and photographer Troy Snow on board -- was headed his way.
His name is Ripper and he needs a permanent home. Domino, the black-and-white pit bull who was stranded with him, was adopted out three months ago to a North Texas family with two teenagers and a male dog named Jagger. But Ripper, who is in a foster home with a trainer, is still looking for a permanent home.
Ripper and Domino were stranded on a car roof in a driveway, behind a mangled chain-link fence, in the Elysian Fields area of New Orleans off Interstate 10, the first week of September 2005. As the Best Friends boat turned the corner onto the dogs’ street, Ripper wasn't taking any chances. He dove into the water and met his rescuers. A few minutes later, he was pulled from the water and lifted to safety, and then the rescue team continued toward the car to retrieve Domino.
“I pulled him onto the boat,” Troy said. “He was banging his tail against the side. He climbed onto my lap and wouldn’t get out. He didn’t want us to leave him.”
Once at the relief center in Tylertown, Mississippi, Ripper’s caregivers soon knew who he was. Many remember him at Pooch Alley as the vocal dog who would talk to them in a high voice. Some called him Screacher. He was also the dog who each time a kiddy pool was put in his run and filled with water he’d rip it apart, thus the name Ripper stuck.
“He was still very puppyish in his behavior,” said Sherry Woodard, who oversaw animal care at Tylertown. “He would climb all over people and be very sweet. But he would eat any kind of plastic bowls and put teeth marks in metal bowls.”
What he needed, Sherry said, was direction. “I knew that if he didn’t get into the right hands he would be in trouble,” she said.
So she sent him home with Leah Purcell, who runs Spindletop Pit Bull Refuge in Houston, Texas. Leah knew a trainer who could foster and work with Ripper. Domino also went to Spindletop, from where she was adopted out.
Today, Ripper, who was about 10 months old when he was rescued a year ago, “now knows how to control himself,” Sherry said. “He's a trained tracking dog.” He’s also gotten extensive obedience training. Because of the advanced training coupled with his young age, he’d make a good candidate as a police or search-and-rescue dog.
But until he’s placed in a forever home, Ripper will continue to live on several acres with his foster mom.
“I visit him on a regular basis,” Leah said. “He gets to run a lot during the day playing with his indestructible ball.”
Ripper gets along well with submissive females. And he needs to be with someone who will keep him busy, both Sherry and Leah said.
Anyone interested in adopting Ripper may contact Leah by e-mailing her at SpindletopRescue@aol.com. If Ripper is adopted, Leah said, it will make room in his foster home for another Pit Bull who needs one-on-one training.
Pictured: Ripper and Domino just before they’re rescued.
Story by Cathy Scott. Photos by Troy Snow.