Dog Found in Dead Owner's Arms After Texas Tornado Has New Home
The Great Pyrenees has now found a loving adoptive family.
— -- A wounded dog found in her dead owner's arms after the fatal tornado that ripped through Van, Texas, two weeks ago has found a new home.
The dog, a Great Pyrenees believed to be about 8 years old, has been renamed Emma by her new owner, a volunteer who helped an animal shelter that was collecting abandoned and wounded animals after the tornado.
"Emma went and crawled up underneath his [her former owner's] arm for comfort, so a very sad situation -- but she's going to have a good home," said Cindy Nash, the director of Nicholas Pet Haven.
Michelle Shockley, who works as a supervisor at a nearby zoo and helped with the rescue, said Emma was in a large crate in the back of a pick-up truck when she first saw her.
"I was sitting in the back of the pick-up and she came out on my lap," Shockley told ABC News. "She was just exhausted and very traumatized."
Shockley made the decision that day to adopt the dog and, at the suggestion of a behavioral psychologist that advises Nicholas Pet Haven, she renamed the dog Emma.
The veterinarian who treated Emma told Shockley that she suffered some head trauma and an inner ear injury because she has bruises throughout her body and appears to have difficulty balancing, with every movement appearing to be a "concentrated effort," Shockley said.
"From what the vet said from his initial exams, the way in which she was battered and bruised under her coat, she was at Ground Zero. She was thrown around," Shockley said.
She wasn't the only one to survive. Her former owners, David and Brenda Tapleys, are believed to have had 10 dogs, three of whom died in the tornado, and one of whom was taken in by the couple's grown children who live out of state. The children surrendered the remaining six, including Emma, to Nicholas Pet Haven, which is now working to place the remaining five dogs.
One, an Australian shepherd mix, has been adopted by another family, but two long-haired dachshunds, both with congestive heart failure, a Pomeranian that Nash said is "cute as a button," and a black-and-white terrier mix are all still looking for homes.
As for Emma, her hair is starting to grow back after being shaved so that the veterinarian could fully examine her wounds, and she's starting to regain her appetite.
Michelle Shockey's mother, Jo Shockley, said that the family was thrilled when she ate a whole can of dog food in one sitting at dinner on Monday night.
"She's a little underweight, but she could have been a real active dog," Jo Shockley told ABC News, saying that would fit with the characteristics common within the breed. "They're known to be guardians, and protectors. They're known to protect things that are more helpless than they are."
