Many dogs take it for granted that a house is their home, but one pup named Boomer still doesn’t believe he’s been allowed to enter. Samantha Zimmer, who rescues and fosters canines in Houston, Texas, received a message last month from a woman who had been feeding a band of stray dogs every day at a bank.
When Zimmer learned that a major winter was on its way to Texas, she decided to try to save as many pets as she could. “That day, we acquired three pups from that group, and one of them was Boomer,” Zimmer told The Dodo. “Because he was too shy to approach us, he had to be humanely captured.”
The young pittie mix had had a rough existence on the streets. He tested positive for heartworm, had an untreated break in one of his legs, and had been shot with a pellet gun at some point, according to the vet. The most distressing aspect of Boomer’s story was that he wasn’t sure he was authorized to enter Zimmer’s home, no matter how much encouragement he received.
“I was going for work one day and wanted to see whether he’d come inside by himself. “Most of the time, we just brought him inside,” Zimmer explained. “It was obvious that he had never been allowed into the house and that he desperately wanted in.”
Zimmer has spent the last month attempting to gain Boomer’s trust and reassuring him that he is and always will be a house dog. Boomer is slowly learning that he is wanted and cherished, one paw at a time. He now gently walks through the door, checking with Zimmer first to make sure everything is okay, and he enjoys his snuggling time on the couch with his foster family.
Zimmer is confident that when Boomer is ready, he will be able to find a family of his own.