Just before the storm Harvey hit Texas’s southeast coast, Salvador Segovia left his grandson’s dog, Otis, in his home’s screened-in back porch, along with food and water.

But the storm must have scared Otis, so he busted open the screen door and ran away on Friday night.

“I stuck my head out yelling and yelling, and no Otis,” Segovia said. “The following morning, I got out and kept yelling, circled the block and everything, and nothing. We didn’t know where Otis was.”

Meanwhile, Tiele Dockens was on her way to check on the houses of some friends and families who had evacuated, when something caught her attention. A dog was walking down a street carrying a big bag of dog food.

“It’s like he’s on a mission,” said Dockens, who lives a few miles away from the Segovias. “I just thought it was so cute.”

So she took a picture and shared it on her Facebook page. The photo quickly became viral, and the dog from Stinton, Texas, a town not far from Corpus Christi, is now an online celebrity.

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Dockens followed the dog to make sure he wasn’t lost, ending up outside Segovia’s house.

“This lady comes by and tells me, ‘Is that your dog coming down the road?’ ” Segovia said. “And I turn around, there comes Otis, and he’s carrying food!”

The shepherd mix walked up to the front porch, set down the bag of food, and lay down on the floor, Segovia said.

“Otis is a smart dog,” Segovia said. “He knows where to go pick up a treat.”

Segovia said Otis might have walked over to the lumber store before he was found Saturday morning. He thinks Otis somehow got inside and grabbed a bag of Ol’ Roy dog food.

“I’m thinking he picked up that dog food and he knew where it was,” Segovia said. “Nobody was there to feed him, and he picks up the dog food.”

Segovia said he had been watching Otis for his 5-year-old grandson, Carter, who left Stinton with his parents to escape the storm.

Otis is probably about 6 years old, Segovia said. He found the dog when he was just a puppy. A man who was driving around stopped by one day, and said he was planning to just leave the dog somewhere, unless Segovia wanted it.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, leave him here, we’ll keep him,’ ” Segovia said. “He left the dog here, and it became my grandson’s dog.”


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