Indiana firefighter drives 600 miles to adopt injured dog

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Over the course of his 11-year-career at the Lafayette Fire Department, Sgt. Travis Oliver has pulled cats, dogs, hamsters and even fish tanks out of burning homes.

Oftentimes family pets are beyond saving which can be heart-wrenching to an animal lover like Oliver, he said.

"That hurts, it hurts bad," he said. "It's like somebody loved this pet. I would have loved this pet. It's hard to do that and never get any closure."

Oliver's wife, Deanna, had been asking for a second dog, a sibling for their purebred chocolate lab named Odin, but he hedged on the decision. That was until he saw Lexi featured on the Minnesota-based Instagram account Ruff Start Rescue.

Lexi was trapped in a plastic crate with her puppies during a house fire. The crate melted to her skin causing burns on the left side of her body. She was able to escape but the puppies were lost in the fire.

Oliver knew immediately she would be his closure.

It took some convincing of both the rescue and his family. "Why this dog? Why so far away?" they asked.

"I wanted this companionship where I could come home from a bad day and be like, this is my girl," he said.

The homeowners who raised Lexi considered euthanizing her because they feared the medical bills would be too costly in addition to rebuilding their life. Instead, they surrendered her to Ruff State Rescue where she was placed in a temporary home with foster parents.

At first, Oliver's adoption application was denied by Ruff Start because he was out-of-state, but Oliver was persistent and wrote a letter to the rescue explaining how connected he felt to Lexi's tragedy after seeing so many pets perish in fires.

With the blessing of Lexi's foster parents, Oliver's adoption was approved. He, his wife and 15-year-old daughter, Skye, rented an RV and drove the 600 miles to bring Lexi back to her forever home.

Oliver said he gives animal lovers who foster a lot of credit for putting in the hard work when animals are most vulnerable. It was especially hard to separate Lexi from her foster parents, Sara and Tim, after they formed such a special bond. The couple even started an account to track Lexi's progress.

"I felt like I was taking someone's kid," Oliver said.

Since the fire in January, Lexi's burns are already 90 percent healed. Aside from medication and some sunscreen on her burn patches, Lexi runs, jumps and plays fetch just like any other 2-year-old puppy.

She still a bit jumpy around loud noises and has some separation anxiety, Oliver said.

Although the lab-mix is too big to be a lap dog she likes to get as close and as snuggly as possible on the couch or in bed. Most nights she sits right on top of Skye as the Harrison High School freshman does her homework.

The Oliver's have since taken over the Instagram account, @lexi.gets.better, and update it daily with pictures and videos of Lexi enjoying her new 8-acre lawn.

As the account continues to gain followers and Lexi's story of survival is shared, Oliver said he hopes it will inspire others to foster and adopt abandoned pets.

"This isn't about me," he said. "This is about her and what she went through and other dogs that need to be rescued."

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Source: Journal & Courier

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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com