PORTLAND, TX — Texana is a cattle dog heeler who’s become a member of the community. Her journey into the hearts of Portland residents began about 8 months ago along Highway 181.
"It's definitely our theory that she was abandoned in that area because she stayed within that area for 8 months to a year,” Sergeant Jacob Jimenez said.
Texana was first spotted living on the streets near the Buddy Ganem turnaround.
"We follow Texana on the Facebook posts for Animal Control all the way from being out there to everyone being worried about her,” Portland resident Kent Armstrong said.
Animal Control Officer Lara Petruschinki wanted to give Texana a home, but trying to catch her proved challenging.
"Every time we went out there with our hazards on and just driving trying to get her with no luck,” Petruschinki said.
Then, one morning, a post on Facebook said Texana was successfully captured by animal control and taken in.
A few weeks passed, and a local family adopted her. Though, Texana was unsure.
"She actually ran away the day she was adopted. I got a call, and we went out there for four days. We took our time and put flyers out,” Petruschinki said.
Businesses and neighbors like Armstrong worried about Texana and tried to help.
"I actually go for a car ride with my two dogs every day and we went there looking for her, but I followed the adventures on Facebook until she got caught,” Armstrong said.
Texana was found and taken for rehabilitation.
"Just a little bit of work with a dog and with the community, it'll get save a dog’s life,” Petruschinki said.
Right now, she's working on trust, among other things.
"Most definitely, she has an air tag, but we're working on getting something different for her because air tags update every 30 minutes,” Petruschinki said.
Animal Control will keep Texana for another month. They expect she'll go back to her adopted family by February.
