Athena snuggling her brother Grench. The puppies were part of a litter who landed at the Silcox Shelter in April at 1 week old. They’re now living their best lives with Booker T. Thomas and family.
Booker T. Thomas is the type of guy who always roots for the underdog. It’s his nature to provide help for those in need … especially when they happen to be of the four-legged variety.
The Marine and District Director for Councilmember Charlie Lauersdorf (a dog lover himself), Thomas grew up in an animal-loving home. Mom had passel of pint-sized pups, while Dad leaned toward larger breeds.
“Growing up, we always had dogs and we always had big dogs, like pit bulls and Rottweilers,” said Thomas, a Marine Corps reservist who joined the City of Fort Worth in 2023. “But they were always extremely sweet and gentle and really just terribly overgrown lapdogs.”
His affinity for dogs – and especially big dogs – comes from his father.
“It runs in the family,” Thomas said.
So when he scrolled upon a Facebook post about a brand-new litter of puppies at Fort Worth Animal Care & Control (FWACC) who urgently needed fostering, Thomas knew immediately what he had to do.
“I sent the post to my wife, Sara. We had experience bottle-feeding puppies,” Thomas said. The couple previously sheltered a shepherd-basenji mix and a Rottweiler. “I told Chris [McAllister, FWACC Assistant Director] we’d take one. Chris said, ‘Dude, they do better in pairs,’ hint-hint, nudge-nudge. So we took two.”
Double foster fail
They named the tiny siblings Athena and Grench. Shepherd mixes from the Silcox Shelter, they were born April 8. Their eyes and ears were still sealed shut when they arrived at the Thomas household. That’s how new to this world they were.
“We bottle-fed them every two hours for about three weeks,” Thomas recalled. “Waking up every two hours wasn’t bad at all for us. They ate extremely quickly. Then we waited for them to start crying again – which was usually every two hours on the dot – and do it again.”
Although the couple were initially planning on just being temporary parents, it became very evident very fast that the pups had found their forever home.
“The original plan was to foster,” Thomas said. “But they were so cute and so cool. And when they opened their eyes and saw me it was as if they said, ‘Look, there’s Dad right there!’ After that I was like, they’re mine.”
Love is the answer
After their spay and neuter on July 18, Thomas and his wife officially adopted Athena and Grench.
While their foster experience wasn’t without a few sleep-deprived days, the Thomas and family wouldn’t swap it for the world. His stepdaughter Camila is crazy for her new canine siblings too.
“We were newly married [in February], so Sara and I got the experience of bottle-feeding twins essentially. We had to deal with the stressors of having a baby but super quick,” Thomas said.
He continued: “Fostering is hard, especially with bottle babies. But for us, we can’t not have these dogs. We wanted to keep them together. They would search for each other when they were newborn, like it’s us against the world. They still sleep on top of each other all the time, especially when they’re in trouble. ... But they’re just so cool, and we love them so much.”
Kindness breeds kindness
Thomas is the type of person who radiates good vibes. Polite and humble, he doesn’t see himself as a rescue hero. He’s just a helper, he says, who does what’s in his heart.
“I think dogs know when humans are good and when they’re not. We have to gain their trust,” he said. “And we’ve got these two now who love us, so I take that as a compliment.”
For information on fostering a Fort Worth Animal Shelter pet, email fwaccfoster@fortworthtexas.gov or visit FWACC’s webpage.