[Tia] I'm out here at my place,
not Assumption Parish.
At last weather channel check,
we are at a high end Category 4.
We're probably going to be without power for a while.
So, I'm trying to figure out
what to do as far as getting dogs somewhere else.
It's kinda like the Titanic.
They saw the ice berg ahead
and they tried to steer to get out of the way.
That's what it's like, leaving Villalobos.
We saw the ice berg a few days ago.
But when you have hundreds of dogs,
you don't just pack up and go like that.
There's power in numbers,
and that's why we're sticking together.
Um, the rain will end.
It's coming.
-[wind blowing] -[dogs barking]
[Tia] Hurricane Ida went from being a disturbance,
for lack of a better word, to "Wham!"
I just watched it go from Category 1 to 2
to 3 to 4 and then like,
two miles an hour blow at Category 5.
That's when I was just like,
"Okay, heh heh.
We got a problem now."
With every natural disaster, you ask anybody who's ever been through one,
everything changes at a moment's notice.
Do we evacuate the city location?
Do we evacuate the Assumption Parish location?
You know, the dogs get upset.
Let's go. Let's go.
The biggest issue when it comes to this warehouse
is the flooding.
The flooding, the flooding, the flooding.
We were boarding up windows,
we were taking vehicles and parking them against windows and doors.
Making sure that all of our vans and buses that we own
and every trailer that we had was loaded up with crates.
[Tia, on video] Yeah. Let's get you out of the storm.
[Tia] Yeah, we just, we got generators ready,
gas cans filled up.
We prepared for the apocalypse, basically.
Unfortunately,
Mother Nature was in an ass-kicking mood
because she did not slow down when she hit land.
And it was still a Category 4 as she was coming up through here.
[dog barking in the distance]
Our New Orleans location got...
they got hit hard.
We had a lot of structural damage
that was pretty bad.
You know, the water got so high that it started seeping in,
the bottom of the building.
[Tia] Oh, yeah.
Wow.
[Tia] The flooding,
it's gotten progressively worse
from when we first moved there,
you know, like 10 years ago.
[Tia] You got in so much.
Oh, my God, yeah.
Okay, this is a lot.
I mean, it's going to take a minute.
It is gonna take more than a minute.
Ah, I think I'm gonna go over here and cry.
[Tia] But the little ray of sunshine was that
the new building...
held up really nice.
It just reassured me
that I made the right decision in moving into a new building.
The new location in New Orleans is just,
probably half a mile away from the current location.
We're still in the stages of,
you know, getting things moved into the new building.
It's a process.
I mean, think about when you just move from one house to another.
Now imagine moving like, a couple hundred dogs.
Once we get all of the dogs you know, moved over,
then the rest is just, it'll fall into place.
[Tia] Yes, we are still in the midst of
trying to fix everything up after the hurricane.
But adoptions are still super important,
and one of the top items on our list.
-Door looks old. -Oh.
[Lizzy] Heather and Jimmy are a couple from Kentucky.
And they are looking for
a dog to fit in with their lifestyle.
-Welcome. -How are y'all doing?
[Heather] Thank you. Glad to be here.
My name is Heather, and we're here today
because we want to find a new doggie for our household.
We're empty nesters.
And we just feel it in the air
that it's time for us to bring that energy back into the house.
Unfortunately, not gonna be able to let the dogs off-leash
because the hurricane blew part of our fencing down.
[Jimmy] We decided to come to Villalobos because
I believe in what Tia's doing.
And I wanted to come and help her
continue what she's doing.
[Heather] We are excited. It's like, when people have baby fever.
-Yeah. Dog fever? -I've had dog fever.
We got to the trail and with every dog, I'm like,
just look and love it.
I haven't got to use my dog baby-voice in so long.
[Heather] Since my husband grew up with a pit bull,
we've always had an affinity for pit bulls.
Even though our last dogs that we had were boxers.
So, we've come full circle now.
[Lizzy] Tell us...
what you're looking for and...
you know, what kind of things you want to be able to do with the dog.
So, we're very open to all different types of dog personalities.
We just want to vibe and connect with the dog.
Our lifestyle, now that we're empty nesters,
-is a little bit different. -No little doggies.
We like to chill on the couch, we take walks,
we hang out in the backyard,
-we do karaoke on Saturday nights and turn up the music. -Yeah.
Get turned up a little bit.
So we want a dog that can hang on the weekends.
They have to understand
that sometimes, when it gets late and you're singing karaoke,
you are gonna be singing bad Journey songs.
But other than that, you know, we lost our two boxers.
They were with us for 15 years.
And it was very, very difficult for us.
And we just realized we're ready to fill that void
and welcome someone into our home and get the love back.
Heather...
'cause Covid, she has to work from home.
-It would be nice to have, you know, have a friend. -Yeah.
We want pure love, we need no protection.
-I love that. -[Jimmy] No divas allowed.
-[Lizzy] Okay. -Just love.
[Jimmy] What I'm looking for is a connection, like
the feeling, you know,
of like, you understand me and I understand you.
And sort of like, I really want it to be a friend.
Let's do, let's just bring out Boozy first.
-Just get the big Boozy. -Oh, aiming for me?
-Boozy? -Boozy!
[Lizzy] Boozy came to us as a stray.
He was actually found in a really, really rough area.
A lot of times when people dump dogs in a specific area,
they pretty much leave them to die.
We were able to bring him you know, back to health.
He was pretty skinny.
And he got a lot bigger than we anticipated.
He's around a year and a half so he's got energy.
He's very playful.
He is very trainable.
He enjoys learning.
[Lizzy] Big Booze, here he comes.
-[Earl] Big man on campus. -[Heather] Hi, boy.
-[Lizzy] He's a good boy. -[Heather] Hi, boy.
[Lizzy] He's checking out-- I know!
[laughs] I think he heard.
[Earl] Come here.
-[Lizzy] Yeah, he's gorgeous. -You look solid.
Hey, buddy.
[all laughing]
What's up, big boy?
[Heather] Look at his eyes!
-Aw! -Aw.
[Heather] You are a very handsome boy.
-[Jimmy] He's looking right at me, too. -[Heather] He's a good boy.
[Jimmy] First thing I liked about Boozy when I saw him was
his smile. You could tell he was happy.
The eyes,
the size,
personality.
Everything. It was perfect and that's what I liked.
[Jimmy] Hey, big boy. Yeah.
[Lizzy] It looks like, you know, he's big but he's
such a mush! He just, he wants to play.
-You wanna play? -[Lizzy] Oh, yeah.
-[Jimmy] Booze? -[Heather] That's a big boy.
He was a stray?
-Yes. Yeah. -[Jimmy] Oh, my gosh.
-Come on. -Can you fit your big butt
-Get that booty up there. There you go. -Good boy.
[Earl] Oh, he's a daddy's boy.
We got to know each other. We could have a rough and tumble.
Oh, that's it.
[Heather] Boozy was definitely that pit bull...
look and feel,
sweet, sweet boy.
Might be a little bit more of a youthful energy for us.
So, that was my only concern.
[Earl] He's just excited for being out.
That's how I was when I got in the French Quarter for the first time.
Running around drinking everything.
[Lizzy] Earl, you wanna take him back and grab Clank?
Clank-a-lank.
[Earl] Clank was rescued out of a fighting ring,
out of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
I was here on the first day he arrived.
[Lizzy]
[Earl] He was outside on a chain. He was used as a fighting dog.
Good boy.
But lo and behold,
he had the biggest smile ever.
Loves people.
He's a special dog.
[all exclaiming]
Hi, Clank. Hi, love.
[Heather] He's got a little frosting on his face.
[Lizzy] He's eight. He's eight years old.
He's such a good boy, though. He's super easy going.
Actually, I don't think he's ever had a meet and greet.
-Really? -Oh, really?
Hi, love!
-[Lizzy] Yeah. -You wanna come up on the couch?
There you go. Get up there, Clank.
[Heather] He's sweet.
[Lizzy] He is. He's a sweet boy.
[Heather] You're a real sweetie. Look at his face.
You got a nice face.
[Heather] When I first saw Clank,
you could tell that he was a more mature dog.
But so cute.
I loved his eyes, I loved his face the minute that I saw him come out.
-You're a little more calm. -[Lizzy] He's a little calmer.
Yeah, see, I'm old, you're old.
-[all laughing] -[Jimmy] Good boy.
Now, can you sit?
Can you sit?
-[Lizzy] Yeah. -Good boy.
-[Heather] Look how cute he is. -That's good.
[Heather] Oh, I love him.
[Jimmy] Clank, the size was perfect for us.
Just the temperament and I could feel the connection.
And that's what I think is the most important.
[Lizzy] We've had him for seven and a half years.
[Heather] Oh, wow.
-[Lizzy] He's never made it to this point. -[Heather] Aw!
[all laughing]
[Heather] Been here a long time.
He's the only one left out of that crew.
[Jimmy] You're the only one left, Clank?
-[Earl] Good boy, Clank. -[Jimmy] I know.
-Good job. -You just look so proud up there.
I don't want nothing but you doing good.
[Lizzy] Clank, we gotta give someone else a turn.
Do you want to grab Mallory?
Clank. He's such a heartbreaker.
Bye. All right, Clank.
-Go with Earl. Bye. -[Earl] Come on.
[Lizzy] Wow, sweet baby.
[Lizzy] Mallory, she's been here a very long time.
She was found as a stray.
She was still considered a puppy, actually, when she came in.
She is probably one of the sweetest, happiest dogs that we have.
And she doesn't ever get any interest,
so I knew that she was perfect
because they're really, truly looking for a connection and that's it.
-[Lizzy] She loves to go for car rides. -[Heather] You can just tell.
[Lizzy] She might be a little shy when she gets in here but we'll see how she does.
-Hi. -Come on.
Come on.
-Hey, now. -[Heather] Hi!
-[Earl] Come on. -[Heather] Hi, love.
Hi, love.
Hi.
You're a good girl, Mal.
She is very chill, I mean,
if you got her home and she felt really relaxed,
it could really be like a little flower blossoming.
[Heather] I could just feel that positive energy from her.
I'm used to female dogs too,
so there was a specific female energy to Mal
that was very comforting to me.
So, I thought, this is gonna be really difficult
'cause she's super, super cute and super loving dog, I could tell immediately.
How are you?
Aw, you shy?
[Heather] She's very, very sweet.
-[Lizzy] She is. -[Jimmy] I know.
That's what I used to love about Izzy.
She'd just lay in bed with you for hours and hours and hours.
I loved it.
Watch TV.
[Jimmy] I think that...
she had the cutest little grey face and...
I think what I really like about Mal-Mal the most
was just...
how peaceful she was.
-[Lizzy] Did we make it hard for you guys? -Yes.
-[Earl] This one's a charmer. -Yes, you did.
All right, let's put Mallory back,
and then we can chat.
[Heather] Bye, sweet girl.
[Lizzy] I really have no idea who they're leaning towards
because I showed them very, very different dogs
and I think in some ways, each dog...
kinda had a different impact on them.
[Lizzy] Are you guys gonna do the one, two, three and say a name?
[Jimmy] I don't know.
Do you feel like you guys know what you're both thinking?
-I'm not sure. -Yes.
At the end of the day,
you guys have to decide what you can see
in your home, coming home to, every single day,
going, you know, cuddling up with on the couch.
So, what are you guys, who are you guys leaning towards?
[Lizzy] Are you guys gonna do the one, two, three and say a name?
[Jimmy] Well, I don't know.
Do you feel like you guys know what you're both thinking?
-I'm not sure. -Yes.
So, what are you guys, who are you guys leaning towards?
-I would say Clank. -[Lizzy] Really?
-That's what I was thinking. -I would say Clank.
-Oh! -[Heather] Yeah, yeah.
[Jimmy] We just seemed to like--
[Heather] Clank had something special.
[Jimmy] I feel like he heard me and I could tell he was listening.
-He's been here so long. -Everybody gon--
He's the one I could see sitting on the pillow that we get him by the window.
Clank had something really special today.
We chose Clank because...
it was an immediate...
cosmic connection.
And that's what we were looking for.
The face, the energy, the story.
It was meant to happen.
And it happened.
[Earl] Clank is locked in.
Yay! I'm so happy.
-We love him. -I think so.
-That's special. -[Lizzy] That's a big deal.
[Earl] It makes me want to keep doing what I'm doing.
'Cause we must be doing something right.
I got a little teary eyed
'cause I was happy for him.
You know? And it's his time.
And he poured it on.
He poured it on.
[Lizzy] Before we bring Clank home to y'all,
we will test him out with the music
and just make sure he's a 100% comfortable.
We gonna turn up.
Yeah, we're gonna turn up. We're gonna turn it up.
-Yes. -[Heather] Good. We're ready.
He's gonna be living in pretty much like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum,
with our leopard couch and all--
Oh, my God! I love that!
-It's a rocking place. -I love that.
[Earl] Clank. He is a special dog.
He had it hard. He had it rough.
And you know, it paid off at the end for him.
Clank, I think would be perfect even if you wanted to go walk
-by yourself. -Yeah.
[Earl] All he need to do is get in the groove of the music.
You know, learn some karaoke and something.
Thank you guys so much.
-Okay, we'll see you later. -We'll talk to you soon.
All right, bye.
-[Earl] Man! -[Lizzy] Man. Clanker!
My mom isn't gonna be here for hours.
So, she sent me in time to...
try and catch this wolf by myself.
[Mariah] Hi, how you doing?
That's a wolf.
[laughs] That's a wolf.
I don't remember a time not having wolves as a child.
I believe I was around one when my mom started rescuing wolves
so it's something that I know very, very well.
[Mariah] Hi, baby girl.
[kisses]
I'm just gonna put some of this canned food down right here
and see if you'll eat it, all right?
Good girl.
Here.
Good!
[Mariah] The difference with wolves than dogs,
if you make one mistake with a wolf,
they're not gonna try the same thing again.
So I have to really, really think my plan through
before I do anything when catching a wolf.
It's all right.
You're doing so good.
Yeah!
Hi!
[Mariah] My biggest thing was getting
her to just start trusting me.
And a situation like this, especially with a wolf,
you have to be extremely, extremely patient.
So, I just had my back turned towards her a little bit
so that I wasn't being confrontational and directly facing her.
It's okay. You're a little baby.
I'm not gonna do anything to hurt you.
Look at those good paws.
No?
Okay. Well, that was fun.
Well, at least you like me a little bit.
[Mariah] I mean, she started trusting me
but there was no way that I was gonna be able to loop her.
Like, that was just out of the question, I knew pretty immediately.
Come on. We're gonna go under here. Come on!
Let's go this way.
Have some food. Here!
Come on!
Good job!
Come on. Over there.
It started raining non-stop
and of course, I sat out there in the rain with her.
The wolf wasn't fazed at all.
Here we go!
It's yummy.
Here! Ta da!
I'm gonna go get the crate, okay?
I need you to not leave.
Can you stay here?
It's really hard to...
get a wolf to go in a crate.
I had nowhere to trap her in.
I knew it was gonna be hard.
Please, just do it.
Please.
Honey, you were just under here with me. No, no, come on!
Come here!
Please come out of the rain. Come on!
[bleep]
[Mariah] Please come out of the rain.
Come on!
My mom was supposed to be there helping me and...
I feel more confident having my mom there.
But I needed to start trusting myself and my instincts.
Good job!
Sit.
She was really, really alert
to every single little thing going on around her.
She would go in,
she's smart, she's a wolf.
She wouldn't go in all the way.
Here we go.
Come here, mama. I know, you're tired.
I'm tired, too.
I knew for a fact that if I messed up,
one tiny, little bit,
she'd be gone and I'd never catch her.
Eat in the crate.
Pretty please.
Please.
Really?
We don't have a choice. We have to catch her.
It's not the place or a situation
for a wolf to be loose,
in a really populated neighborhood.
There's the huge potential that someone could shoot and kill her.
[Mariah] Here, you want some of my sammy?
You wanna try some tuna?
I had my sandwich so I started using pieces of
my sandwich in the back of her crate.
Right there.
Good girl.
Which she loved.
So, I had to kind of start over.
I have to sit by the crate again.
And get her comfortable with me sitting there.
Is that what you want?
Oh, sammich.
Look. I got more sammy.
What do you like, the cheese? You want the cheese?
Go get it.
Good girl!
Good girl! Good.
Good job.
I let her go all the way in the crate and come back out.
That way, I didn't set myself up for failure.
Once she went in the first time,
came back out,
I knew that I could do it again.
Good girl.
You are kicking ass, my love.
Now let's get in the [bleep] crate.
Good girl.
Got her!
I love you!
I love you, I love you, I love you.
I thought she was going to freak out.
She... was really relaxed.
That to me, is what gave me the relief,
is that she wasn't panicked.
'Cause I still had to wait for my mom to get there to load her up.
My mom showed up literally right after I rescued her.
But I think things worked out the way that they were supposed to.
Because if my mom and Mariah and everyone would have showed up,
it would have added a whole another element of stress.
But yeah, thanks for all the help.
[Tia] You're away from the rain.
She has been caught.
You ready to go?
Good job, daughter,
Oh, you did a, like, a solo?
Yeah. Good for you!
Let's go.
[Mariah] All right, it's okay.
She originally came from Kansas.
Your name shall be Dorothy.
Dorothy shall be her name.
She's from Kansas!
All right, let's go home.
[Tia] So, we're checking in at the new building today to see...
the progress that's going on.
[Tia] All right!
[Tia] At first, we were gonna come up with a system
to which dogs to move first.
And eventually, we just said, "You know what? Screw it.
Let's just get them moved over there.
And we'll rearrange once they're there."
We're gonna, you know, kind of put them in certain areas.
The dogs that are like, ready for adoption, they're gonna be in this area.
So, if we do give like tours and stuff,
you know, they'll see those dogs.
And you tell me as far as how the wood works,
what length it should be to make it big.
[Tia] Carl Junior and his guys,
they do the main construction of the actual kennel building.
If we just made, like the size of this,
Same style, tin roof, the whole bit.
[Tia] When they're done, then the twins step in
and do all the electrical.
Insulation in the cabins,
put the lighting up,
and then finish it out with any sealant or painting or anything they're gonna do.
Then it's putting up the kennels.
Tacking them down and get the cabin set up for the dogs.
And we just keep on going down the line.
There's always something to be done.
And just keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
This is definitely going to be a better set-up
than the old location.
This property is completely fenced,
all the way around.
So, it's way more secure.
There's more outdoor area.
And we'll be able to plant grass,
and just have a different set-up
for the dogs, especially outside.
Inside, for every five dogs,
they have their own cabin.
So, throughout the day, they are crated in the cabin.
All of our dogs are crate-trained.
The cabins are air conditioned and heated.
They've got music.
Basically, like when your child goes to pre-school or kindergarten,
it's like, nap time.
You get your little mat out and they go to take a little nap.
That's what we're gonna be able to do with these dogs.
Sure, you know, we can have rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of kennels.
Chaos. It would be chaos.
So, it's gonna be a lot more structured.
Controlled. Just, I want to make it a more peaceful environment.
So, what I can do is,
-install a door. -Okay.
-Into this part of the building. -Yes.
So they can walk straight out here, too.
-Instead of coming all this way. -Oh, yeah. That's good.
And then we can build it...
-on this side. -Okay.
-On the concrete wall side. -Yeah.
Once they get done with the inside of the building,
which is the construction part,
then there's the outside.
We haven't even done anything outside.
My plan is to put, you know, just a multitude of...
turn out yards, exercise yards.
So that when adopters do come,
they can see the dogs play and kind of interact with them.
We will get to that eventually.
-[Tia] We can do it. -I'm just so excited,
like, I'm so happy doing this.
-It makes me so happy. -[Tia] Oh, good!
[Earl] Ho ho. What up, my boy?
Oh, look at that tail.
[Lizzy] Clank's here.
What's up, Clank-a-lank?
[Lizzy] Today, we are testing Clank out with some loud music.
So, Perry brought his amp and his guitar.
Oh, you're doing karaoke.
Earl brought a microphone.
So, we are going to see how Clank does while Perry plays the guitar.
Hopefully, it all goes well because
Heather and Jimmy really want a dog that can join them for karaoke.
[Lizzy] Let's just see how he does with the loud music.
Perry, you want to start taking it out?
-Of the bag? -Yeah.
[Lizzy] I really don't know how Clank is gonna...
interact being that close to like, a speaker.
I think that if...
Clank is terrified of the loud music,
it is something that would be concerning for Heather and Jimmy.
[Lizzy] Yeah. Yum.
I know that they really love him, so
part of me feels like they would be willing to make some adjustments to their life.
[Lizzy] He really likes these treats.
But at the same time,
they came into this
wanting a dog that could come into their life,
and enjoy the same things that they enjoy.
Well, he's definitely not uncomfortable with the guitar because he saw it.
So, go ahead, yeah.
[strumming guitar]
-Good. -How you doing?
Yeah, he's good. He's good.
Basically what I'm doing is that like,
building the association so he goes there,
I click and treat him,
and so he's realizing, okay, this is good.
I'm coming over here near this and like, it's a good thing.
-I'm getting a treat. -Oh, yeah.
-[strumming louder] -I don't think he cares.
-[Earl] He's more relaxed. -[Lizzy] Yeah.
You wanna crank it up a little more?
[strumming louder]
Everybody turn up now here in VRC play yard.
-[Earl] With Clank. -Good boy.
-[Earl] Clank, boy! -Who's a good boy?
[Earl] Turn up, Clank.
-Does it go louder? -Yup.
[Lizzy laughs]
[loud strumming] [Clank panting]
Oh, now we really about to steal this.
[loud, rhythmic strumming]
[Lizzy] Clank handled it really well.
I think that he was super comfortable.
I think he was just happy to be in there with people.
He's really into affection and being pet and loved on.
You know how when dogs are super stressed, they won't take treats?
He's still eating the food.
So, I think he's totally fine with it.
[Lizzy] Good boy!
[Earl] That's my man Clank, from around the way.
He's a noise box, all day, every day.
But we still love him all the same, it's Clank.
I can see him doing great with Heather and Jimmy.
And being like, totally down to get involved in karaoke night.
[Lizzy] Good job!
Yay. All right, good.
Good, good, good. Thank you guys so much for
-doing this. Super helpful. -Yeah, no problem.
[Lizzy] Clank did fantastic with the loud music.
So, the next step is just to load him up and send him on his way.
[Earl] Bye, Clank.
One of a kind.
Hi, this is Marie.
Marie is nine years old.
She's been with us her entire life.
She's a real laid-back girl, as you can see.
She needs kids over 10 because she can be shy at times.
So, if you're interested in adopting Marie,
or any other Villalobos Rescue dog,
or donating to Villalobos,
please contact us at animalplanet.com/pitbulls.
[Tia] Good girl.
[Tia] So, Dorothy's been with me for a few days now.
Obviously, I can't keep her here.
You know, where I live, it's just not set up for a wolf dog.
She's gonna go to Texas.
Not only to be with the other wolf dogs,
but my caretaker's there, my handler's there.
They spend so much time with the dogs.
And I think that's what she needs.
He's so small. He doesn't even need a big crate.
Earl is taking Clank to his new home in Kentucky.
All right, that's cozy.
[Lizzy] We're ready for Clank.
[Lizzy] He's a dog that's been here with us for quite a while now.
And he's just super sweet and loving.
-[Lizzy] Aw! -[Earl] Big boy.
[Lizzy] Do you know you're leaving?
[Earl] No crying, y'all.
[Lizzy laughs]
[Lizzy] I think I'm gonna cry.
[Earl] Well, now, it's over, buddy.
[Lizzy] It was awesome
to send him on his way.
It's like a good thing but it's so hard.
[Earl] That smile.
That's what got them, the smile.
[Lizzy] I know. He's just so happy.
He just stood between the middle
of mom and dad and he just had a big old smile.
[Lizzy] He's just a good boy.
[Earl] I've been thinking about this ever since
Clank was chosen.
Just knowing he'd never been in a house
He never ran free in a yard.
[Lizzy chuckles] All right, Clanker.
[Earl] Thank you all.
So, I'm just wondering how he's going to react when he gets into the house.
Hopefully, the home check goes well.
-[Lizzy] Bye, Earl. -Bye, y'all.
[Lizzy] Bye, Clank.
[dog barking]
[Tia] Dorothy is doing amazing in Texas.
[Amy] Good girl.
[Tia] When we bring new wolf dogs to the property
we keep them in the catch pen first.
And allow the other dogs to come up to them through the fence
to get acclimated slowly.
He's sniffing my hair.
[Amy] Look, Rainy likes me.
Yeah, he does.
Her new doggie friend is Buckwheat,
who is one of our wolf dogs
that we had here, originally in Louisiana.
[Amy] Now that he's finished checking out the yard
we can give her some time.
Amy was sending me videos
of Dorothy and Buckwheat flirting through the fence and
so I thought it would be great to make a sweet post.
"Dorothy has found her somewhere over the rainbow."
Except, you know,
a lot of times, people just don't read.
And the animal world took it as,
"Oh, my gosh, she went over the rainbow!"
As in, she died!
So, I didn't pay attention to my post for the entire day and
I forgot and somebody messaged me saying, "you better change that post.
everyone thinks she kicked the bucket." Like, no!
So,
I think it was a cute way to end my Dorothy,
Wizard of Oz story but apparently I...
I guess I missed the memo.
[Earl] Today, we are here in Kentucky
dropping off a dog named Clank.
You know a lot of things go through your mind when you're on the road
and you're just riding and thinking and...
once upon a time I was on parole and I couldn't leave
the state of Louisiana without having permission.
And you know, it still feels kind of funny
just to get in a car and leave.
I still think about it in the back of my mind,
"Is I supposed to ask somebody?" but...
No. I'm free.
I give thanks to Miss Tia for even giving me a chance
to complete that task.
It shows a lot of trust.
Nice neighborhood, Clank. Got luck, good boy.
I was here Day 1 when he arrived.
[Mariah] How you doing'?
You okay? Are you okay?
[Earl] Hoping he'll do real well.
So I won't have to bring him back.
I would love to leave him here with Heather and Jimmy.
I am very excited for Clank.
-[Heather] Hi! -[Earl] Hello.
Good to see you again!
-Come on in. -[Earl] How you all doing?
On a scale of one to ten, I'm like, an 11.
I'm really excited.
-Sir! -[Earl] Man, did you know
that was one of my favorite hoodies?
[Heather] We feel excited.
Not too much nervousness because we had
such a great connection with Clank when we met him.
We're just very anxious to get him in our arms and hang out.
Oh, yes indeed.
[Earl] I think Clank's gonna like this.
-I know he gonna love looking out the window. -[Heather] Got him a new bed.
[Heather] This is Clank's new home.
[Jimmy] We went shopping and got him some new beds,
and new toys.
[Earl] So, this is the leopard couch.
[Heather] That's the leopard couch. The one and only.
[Heather] We had some hints on what he liked.
We got him a little shrimp,
for his New Orleans roots.
-[Jimmy] Yes, yes. -All right, then.
Let me sit down and talk with y'all for a second.
[Jimmy] I really am just sort of...
you know, anticipating, what he likes and this and that but
whatever he doesn't like, we'll adjust.
He'll like it.
I hope.
-[Earl] He done pretty good in the hotel room. -[Heather] Oh, good.
Done pretty good on the ride up.
You know, like I told you a while back, Clank was...
number one noisemaker.
That's why he's got the name, "Clank Clank."
I was wondering how he got his name.
[Heather] We've been thinking about how he'll adjust since he's been without a home
basically, his whole life.
So, he stayed in the hotel room with you guys?
-[Earl] Yeah. -See that's why I'd like a dog
we could travel with and all that stuff.
-Yeah, he done great, man. He done great. -Awesome.
[Heather] We've thought about it. We're gonna be very careful
and very deliberate about how we introduce him.
[Earl] And you know he's a hugger.
He'll try to get up here to hug--
-[Jimmy] Good, good. -Oh, good. I used to do that with our old dog.
I could put my arms all the way around her.
[Heather] We're gonna let him kind of go at his own pace.
We're gonna just slowly acclimate him to our life.
We're not nervous. We're more excited than anything.
Well, ain't that a house.
-Thank you. -Let's show you the yard if you want to see that.
[Earl] I would definitely need to see the yard.
[Earl] I'd give a thumbs up far as the house is concerned.
While he being an older guy, you really don't have to dog-proof the house.
[Heather] Clank's gonna be loving it.
[Earl] Every adoption I do, I always axe my garbage.
I wanna keep it neat
-for the dog. -[both laugh]
[Earl] The yard is beautiful.
The gate looked good.
I like they do have a get to get in.
What I would do though,
is like, if y'all was to ever just send him out to hang out,
I would...
put something right here on the porch.
Where he can't go.
I just had one concern for the porch.
It's kind of low and if he wanted to make an attempt
to jump across the banister, he could.
-Oh, I see. -[Earl] Yeah, so he...
he may have an opportunity
-to go across the banister. -[Heather] Right. That makes sense.
[Heather] Our approach to outside with the backyard will be full supervision.
We want him to be safe, we want him to be comfortable.
So, we'll be watching.
[Earl] Well, everything else looks pretty good.
-[Heather] Good. -So, what I would like to do,
I would like to go get him.
[Jimmy] Of course the thought has crossed my mind about, what if he doesn't like us?
Or what if he doesn't remember us?
This is it, Clank. This is our last dance, baby.
[Jimmy] I remember the connection we had. There's a reason we picked him
out of the other dogs.
'Cause we had a legit connection.
[Heather] Look at him.
All right, now.
Be on your best behavior, bro.
[Heather] We've just been waiting with anticipation
for today to come, so we're very excited.
[Earl] Right here.
[Heather] Come here, boy.
-[Jimmy] Hey, Clank. -[Heather] Hi!
Hi, love.
[Jimmy] Oh, hello. You remember me?
Aw, did you miss me?
Hi, love.
Hi, love. I know.
-You are a hugger. -I know.
[Heather] You're a sweet boy.
You're a sweet boy.
[Heather] From the get go,
I was just reminded of
the instantaneous connection that we had with Clank.
[Earl] What do you think?
[Jimmy] Yeah, there he goes.
[Earl] Dirt. Got that dirt.
-[Heather laughs] -That's for you, my boy.
[Jimmy] It was pretty amazing.
It felt like a new presence was in the house.
[Heather] Look, with his new dad.
[Earl] Yup.
[Heather singing]
No.
[Heather] Hi, love.
Oh, yes. You're home!
You're home.
To have a dog again in our home,
is lighting it up instantly for us.
Good boy. You came to me.
A 100% it's the right adoption for us.
[Jimmy] Woah, look at me go!
[Heather] We love having dogs.
It's been a part of our life.
You are a hugging machine.
Oh, I can tell we're gonna be good friends, me and you.
[Heather] We really missed it and it reminded me how much
that it had left a void for us.
So, now, everything feels complete again.
A lot of times you know, we have these dogs for years and years,
but when it's time to leave,
-they don't give us a second look. -No.
[Earl] I'm very excited. I'm very happy for Clank.
If there's any dog that's deserving to be in a home,
it's Clank.
[Jimmy] Go get it.
[Earl] And to see him chase a ball,
you know, like, now I'm a real dog.
Travelled a long road to get here.
Look, that's what I'm saying. He's not gonna give me a second look.
He hung with us long enough.
He stood tall long enough to make it to his forever yard.
His forever home.
Clank gonna live a happy life.