TYLER, Texas — One Tyler family is giving a new life to a dog who may be doing even more for them.
Chris and Erica Puckett recently adopted from the SPCA of East Texas for a unique reason.
"It really had to do with me at first because I have stage 5 renal failure. I would get kind of down on myself and just not feel like I was really helping take care of things like I should," Chris Puckett said.
They went in to adopt Tchoupitoulas, who now goes by Toby or Handsome.
Chris said that from the first walk they took together, he could tell it was a perfect match.
"I have some balance issues due to my kidney failure. And as soon as the leash would get tight, he would turn around and make sure I was still there and make sure that I didn’t fall or whatever. And I lost my balance once, and he noticed that and ran to get in front of me," Puckett said.
While they have spent less than a week together, Toby already senses when he’s needed the most.
"I do my dialysis at home. I have a center up in the corner and when we do that at night time he sits over there in his bed beside me," Chris said.
Toby has a special story too. He’s only 7 months old and has been at the SPCA of East Texas most of that time.
"He had been there about 221 days," Chris said.
In the process of giving Toby a new loving home, the Puckett family feels like he has done more in return.
"You can go adopt these animals there to help them out and get them saved and where they need to be and get a home, but really if you look at it from my point of view he’s really helping me more," Chris said. "He’s getting me back to having a sense of responsibility and a sense of something to take care of and somebody to rely on me where that makes me want to get up and do things."
For anyone on the fence about adopting, Chris and Erica both advise-- take the leap of faith.
"The SPCA works really well with the animals and I think that people ought to give it a shot," Erica said.
They might find a sense of new hope, or their own Toby.
"It don’t matter how hard you're hit; it matters how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward," Chris said.