Archer the dog's original owner explains why he left the dog chained up in rising flood waters

HOUSTON – Mario Gallardo, 62, says he had little choice when he left his dog behind on May 31.

"When I left here, never in a million years could I guess it was going to come up this high," Gallardo said.

Gallardo lost a leg to diabetes and he's on dialysis. He also has history of heart disease.

He says he left his house high and dry on Memorial Day, but returned a few hours later to find water in the streets and police enforcing a mandatory evacuation.

"Did you tell them you needed to get in to get your dog?" KPRC reporter Phil Archer asked.

"I didn't tell them the dog. I told them I needed to get some stuff out, which was the dog. They wouldn't let me. They just told 'no you gotta go.' So I left, and the next day that's when it got up real high. And that's the day I was doing dialysis," Gallardo responded.

That's the day the dog was found with her head barely above water. She was rescued by Archer and other locals.

"We came up in an air boat and she was chained to that post right there and the only thing above water was her head. And the water was rising," Archer said.

"And that's why I had left these chairs right here so she could have gotten up there on nothing. Most of the time she's up there. I couldn't believe she was down here when the water was here," Gallardo said.

The dog Gallardo called "C-Lisa" was found to be infested with heartworms and fleas, but otherwise OK. She's been adopted by Ft. Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls and his family.

As Gallardo surveyed his flood-ravage home on Wednesday, he said he's OK with that.

"What am I going to do with her now? They find somebody to keep her, good, I don't mind," he said.