Happy Tails: The story of Debo and Rex, a pair of strays that captured the heart of the community
A couple of years after dodging traffic and fending for themselves, a duo of beloved street-smart stray dogs are safe and lounging in the sun, snoozing on cots and playing with squeaky toys provided by foster parents who offered a refuge for the popular pups.
No doubt the dogs ― who have been affectionately nicknamed Debo and Rex, or "the boys" ― would still be roaming roads near Daffin Park if it hadn’t been for the efforts of a rescue team that included longtime dog wranglers Butch Krishnamurti and Mandy Sperrey, as well as Suzi Caldwell Lee, Jason Joiner, Allison Connor, Sabrina Tate and Judi Finkelstein.
Both Krishnamurti and Sperrey have rescued dogs for years and were on board early to help capture Debo and Rex.
“This case had so much emotion to it,” Krishnamurti said, adding that “most everybody loves these dogs” that had been roaming together for more than a year.
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Stray dogs capture hearts of Parkside community
In May 2022, from what Parkside and Edgemere neighborhood residents have said, “the two (dogs) found each other and have been fast friends ever since,” Krishnamurti said.
The strays also caught the attention of additional people who posted comments on the Facebook page, “Parkside Open Chat.” At first, concerned folks thought the dogs were lost but soon most realized that the pups were abandoned, at least Rex was. Nothing much was known about Debo’s background. The dogs regularly patrolled Parkside streets, stopping for handouts along their almost daily trips from East 53rd Street to Daffin Park and back. Though the dogs welcomed treats from a distance, they were hesitant to get too close to people.
As the dogs’ popularity increased, a human friend created a Facebook page for the darling doggie duo. Called “The Midtown Mascots (Debo and Rex),” the page has 900-plus followers and has become a place for updates and photos of the boys.
Also, in anticipation of the dogs being rescued and fostered, Krishnamurti and Sperrey set up a GoFundMe account for the dogs’ future care with a goal of $5,000. In 48 hours, roughly $6,000 was donated. (Caring folks also have offered donations in kind of dogfood, supplies, etc. The fosters are working on creating an Amazon Wish List and will keep everyone posted on the Facebook page.)
Krishnamurti said most everyone who starting following the dogs’ story on Facebook understood the team’s rescue plan would take time. “You can’t just put a leash on these boys,” he explained. Others, however, grew impatient with the slow process and questioned the rescuers’ motives regarding the donated funds. A few people called Chatham County Animal Services to report the at-large dogs.
“For whatever reason, everybody kept reporting them on social media’s lost and found pages,” Krishnamurti said. “Mostly people were familiar with them, but others said ‘no, it makes me nervous to see a dog off leash.”
Fortunately, Krishnamurti has been volunteer coordinator at CCAS for several years and explained to staff there that a rescue was in the works. He also posted regular updates on the Facebook page about the timetable: “While we understand and sympathize with some of the community members’ concerns over dogs at large, if the boys are trapped by CCAS and brought to the shelter, there is real risk of euthanasia sometime after the five-day day stray hold period. The shelter these days is largely full and two street dogs do not have a high probability of getting adopted through the shelter.”
Foster family for dog duo steps forward
Finally, a couple came forward to foster the dogs. They had a baby on the way and were planning to move out of state. The news seemed to be a lifesaver, but Debo and Rex team member Lee finally confessed that she was so worried about the dogs that she hadn’t been able to sleep for days.
“I just cannot see these boys leaving the state,” she told her fellow teammates. “They're already going to be traumatized from not being out in the open. If they ever get loose (in Virginia), they're going to be completely lost and no one (familiar) is going to be around.
Lee told them that she and Joiner had talked it over and were willing to foster the dogs. Some of the money from the GoFundMe account was used to purchase supplies such as large chain-link pens, tarps and materials necessary to secure the couple’s wooden fence. The team patched loose boards, buried metal grills along the fence to prevent digging and attached rolling metal bars atop part of the fence to keep the dogs from climbing over.
All the while, “We were contemplating how we were going to capture them,” Krishnamurti explained. Regular trapping, he added, would be traumatic for these dogs who are “really smart and have been running free.”
“Finally, as we started to learn more about their behaviors and they were getting comfortable with (Lee and Joiner), we said, ‘why don’t we try to lure them into the backyard and close the gate?”
The team practiced drills with Krishnamurti assigned to be the gate man. He would hide in the lane and, once the dogs entered the yard, he would shut the gate. The day came, the dogs entered the yard, and Krishnamurti nearly blew the rescue when he tripped and almost fell over a garbage can.
“Even then, with all the work we’ve done on the yard, the dogs found three or four vulnerable spots that, thank goodness, they didn’t get all the way out,” Krishnamurti said.
“Meanwhile,” Krishnamurti said, “We are doing some basics – putting flea meds and dewormers in their food. Sooner than later, we would love to get the collar off of Rex and get them neutered” ― and see them adopted.
Again, it’s a slow process, he said, because the dogs are still wary of their fosters but are gradually warming up and adapting to their foster home. Lee regularly posts photos and videos of the dogs playing with each other and their toys, running around the yard or going in and out of the pens where the gates always remain open.
Don't abandon dogs; contact rescue groups first
Krishnamurti wants the public to learn a couple of lessons from the tale of Debo and Rex:
Point 1:
The dogs were abandoned for whatever reason and that shouldn’t happen, he said. Dog owners mistakenly believe that if they are having economic difficulties, are moving or something else, there is no alternative than to turn a dog loose or surrender them to the shelter. But there are plenty of alternatives. Reach out to local rescue groups, behavior training or low-cost spay and neuter organizations, he advised.
Point 2:
If you find a dog, do not immediately take it to the shelter. “I don’t want to paint this as a shelter issue,” he said. “It’s a community issue. The shelter has been largely full for at least a year but it’s not the shelter’s fault,” he said. “I’m finding that a lot of people assume taking a dog to the shelter will help the owner find the dog or a good adopter will come forward. For the most part, that doesn’t happen,” he added. “Things have changed now (as far as the county ordinance is concerned). People who find dogs can do a five-day stray hold at their residence, if possible, rather than at the shelter (as the ordinance previously required). The stipulation is that (the finder) needs to be doing things like posting the dog on social media and filing an online found-dog report with CCAS.
After five days, if nobody comes forward, the finder has the right to either keep the dog or rehome it. “This way the dog stays completely out of the shelter and avoids the risk of euthanasia,” Krishnamurti said.
Finally, he added: “For whatever reason, somebody decided to let Debo and Rex loose, which 99 percent of the time is not a good thing. These boys were just lucky that they adapted well to the streets and are beloved by so many.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah stray dogs Debo and Rex taken in by foster family
