Former Street Dog Tries To Work Up The Courage To Enter His New Home

"Come inside. You're a house dog now!"

Plenty of dogs take for granted that a house is their home — but one pup named Boomer still has trouble believing that he’s lucky enough to come inside.

Last month, Samantha Zimmer, who rescues and fosters dogs in Houston, Texas, received a message from a woman who had been feeding a pack of strays at a bank every day. 

When Zimmer heard that a large snowstorm was headed for Texas, she decided to try and rescue as many of the dogs as she could. “We got three dogs from that pack that day [and] Boomer was one of them,” Zimmer told The Dodo. He had to be humanely trapped since he was too shy to approach us.”

It was clear the young pittie mix had had a difficult life on the streets. The vet found that he was heartworm positive, had an untreated break in one of his legs and, at some point, had been shot with a pellet gun. But perhaps the most heartbreaking thing about Boomer was that he wasn’t sure he was allowed to come inside Zimmer’s house — no matter how much encouragement he got.

As you can see in the video below:

Samantha Zimmer

“One day I was leaving for work and wanted to see if he would come inside on his own. We had actually just carried him inside most of the time,” Zimmer said. “It was clear that he had never been let inside the house and he wanted to come in.” 

Zimmer has spent the last month trying to earn Boomer’s trust and let him know that he is a house dog — and will always be one from now on.

Samantha Zimmer

One paw at a time, Boomer is beginning to understand that he is wanted and loved. Now, he will slowly walk in the door, checking first with Zimmer that it’s OK, and loves his snuggle time on the couch with his foster family.

Boomer the rescue dog learns to trust
Samantha Zimmer

Zimmer is sure that when Boomer is ready, he’ll have no trouble finding a family all his own.

“Boomer is the sweetest, most loving guy,” Zimmer said.

To learn more about Boomer, you can follow Samantha Zimmer on Instagram and TikTok. To help stray dogs in Texas get the care they need, you can make a donation to Lola's Lucky Day.