7 min read Volunteers Plan 1,000-Mile Road Trip To Reunite Pit Bull With Owner

<p><a class="checked-link" href="https://www.facebook.com/SmittyThePitty/photos/pb.666800696773830.-2207520000.1418159007./667951099992123/?type=1&theater" style="text-decoration: none;">Credit:Facebook/Smitty the Pitty</a></p>

The worst part wasn't when Brian, a trucker from Illinois, broke his hand while unloading boxes in Houston, Texas. And it wasn't when, unable to drive, he had to take a Greyhound bus 1,000 miles home to Joliet, Ill. The worst part was when he had to leave his pit bull and driving companion, Smitty, behind in Texas. Leaving a pit bull behind in Houston is a death sentence. City shelters, in general, put down pit bulls within 72 hours. Hoping to save his dog, Brian turned to the Houston Humane Society. (Though it makes an exception for service dogs, Greyhound does not allow pets onboard its buses.) Amanda Vysocky, an independent pit bull rescuer the Houston Humane Society contacted, told local media outlet KPRC that Brian was devastated to depart without his beloved pup. Smitty, it turned out, had been adopted as a rescue after Brian's family suffered a tragedy. "All he said was, please don't allow your city to kill my dog," she said. "And as we were explaining this, I was like, well do you genuinely want your dog? And he said more than anything in the world. He's my son. Well I said let me go get your dog."

(Credit:Facebook/Smitty the Pitty)

In an impassioned search for a driver, Vysocky got in touch with Morgan Edwards from the Kindred Hearts Transport Connection. Kindred Hearts, a nonprofit organization, is set up a bit like a bucket brigade - a volunteer drives a stranded pup for an hour-and-a-half, then hands the homeward-bound dog off to the next person. "It's like a relay race," Edwards told The Dodo. The plan for Smitty was, at first, to tap into the national network of volunteers in Kindred Hearts, making a chain of cars that would take the dog home. But in a strange twist of fate, another truck driver, who happens to be a part of the pit bull rescue group Unchained Love, was able to pick Smitty up in Denton, Texas. (Credit:Facebook/Smitty the Pitty)