VIDEO: Dog Chases Owner’s Truck After Being Abandoned at Shelter

A heartbreaking scene was captured on video outside a Tennessee animal shelter as a dog chased after his owner’s truck when he was abandoned outside the front door.

The Hawkins County Humane Society was closed to the public due to quarantine, but staff inside noticed a truck driving away from the shelter with a dog chasing after it and ran outside to help.

“We noticed a vehicle pulling out with a dog chasing it and our staff members went out to chase him,”Joseph Cadorette, a staff member of the Hawkins County Humane Society told WKRN. “He was running down Highway 11. He almost got hit by four or five cars before we got him back in the parking lot.”

After rescuing the frightened, confused dog, staffers turned to surveillance camera footage to find out what had happened.

“He gets out of his truck and walks to the back,” Cadorette explained. “He’s got a fiberglass cover on the bed of his truck and he unlocks it, pulls the dog out. He couldn’t get in because the doors were locked. He turned around and just walked away.”

As the dog’s owner walked back to his truck, heartbreaking video showed the 2-year old Blue Heeler jumping and chasing after him. When the man drove away, the dog followed, running after the truck and onto the highway, nearly being struck by several vehicles in his attempt to catch the man that so callously abandoned him.

Shelter staff contacted the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Department who came to the scene and determined that there was nothing they could do. The shelter were devastated as they’d hoped to press charges against the man for abandoning his dog.

Rescuers named the scared dog Rawhide and promised to care for him, including providing all shots and neuter surgery before eventually finding him a family that will give him the life he deserves.

“We’re just hoping to get him taken care of and get him a family here that can adopt him and show him the love and care that he wants,” Cadorette said. “You have to treat animals just as good as a human being, I mean they got feelings too.”

The Hawkins County Humane Society has received dozens of inquiries about adopting Rawhide. To learn more about him or the many other dogs and cats available for adoption, visit their Facebook page here or call 423-272-6538.