Surgery saves homeless dog

AUSTIN (KXAN) - They say a dog is a man's best friend. That's true even for a homeless Austin man. But when Bobby Brown's dog needed expensive emergency surgery someone stepped in to save the dog.

Brown has been homeless since he was 14. Three years ago he took Poopsie the dog into his camp in the woods after learning she was in an abusive situation. "A friend of mine told me about her and I didn't really want the responsibility," Brown recalled. "But when we met we fell in love and we've been together ever since."

Recently Poopsie tore up her knee. She needed immediate and expensive surgery. Bobby was worried, "$1,400 you just can't come up with like that in the time it would take to do it. We began putting out fliers on street corners to dog lovers, which there are a lot of in Austin."

Enter Laura Cowart. The homemaker and mother of six met Brown on a street corner. When she heard about Poopsie she helped make, print, and distribute the fliers asking for donations. She said it was a no-brainer. "It doesn't take long to roll down your window and smile and say how are you doing," said Cowart.  "A lot of them that's just the beginning and ask them what they need."

Thanks to those donations and the Animal Trustees of Austin Clinic, Poopsie had surgery Tuesday.

Thanks to the generosity of John Pickens and the First Evangelical Free Church, Bobby and Poopsie are living in a duplex while she heals.

But make no mistake, Brown and Poopsie yearn for their life back in the open air. When asked how he likes having a roof over his head, Bobby replied, "It's different. It's okay, the conveniences are nice, but I miss the woods. So does she."