Our Story

Our Mission

The Rocky Road Husky Rescue’s mission is to save as many huskies and husky mixes from being euthanized in the Texas Coastal Bend and to give them a second chance at life.

“The House that Rocky Built.”

One fateful day, while driving down a road less travelled, Rocky came into his life.

Our Story

Founder, Joshua, was always fascinated with the husky breed. He loved their unique personalities and beautiful traits. He knew though he was not in a position to have one due to the lack of knowledge of the breed and being in between his apartment and moving into a house.

Joshua was talking with his family about how when he gets into his house, he would look at getting a dog for a companion. He began looking to see what shelters and rescues were in his area just to get an idea for when the time came. However, one fateful day, his rescue Rocky came into his life.

As he was leaving work this same day, he happened to go a different way home. Once turning onto this new route, he saw an animal walking on the side of the road. From a distance, and being in the country, he said “Man, what an ugly coyote.”

As he got closer, the “coyote” looks back but continues to walk forward. Joshua realized it was actually a dog and says, “Oh, it’s a dog. Probably belongs to one of the ranchers in the area.” As he passes the dog, he realizes it’s a husky and says, “Whoa! It’s a husky!”.

He was obviously in rough shape as from a distance he didn’t even look like a dog, so Joshua pulls over to check on him. Once pulled over to the side and the door opens, this dog just jumps right into the car. No hesitation on his part at all. Joshua looks him over closely to see if there are any identification tags on him, but none were to be found.

As this stray is cooling off, he calls his family and says “Umm, I think I just acquired a dog!” Of course his family was thinking he was teasing them as he had a conversation about getting one just earlier in the day. He sent a picture as proof and everyone was in shock!

After chatting with his family and the dog cooled off, he began to think aloud what he should call the dog. He said, “What do I call you?” and looked into the dog’s eyes. The first name that popped into his head was “Rocky”. It was as if there was an immediate connection between the two and Rocky told Joshua his name.

Joshua then decided to return to work as his plan was to check with those that lived in the area to see if they recognized him and to get him fresh water. Once back at work and parked, he rolls down the window and a co-worker sees the dog. The immediate response was, “Ain’t no huskies live around here! That poor dog was dumped!”

Joshua’s heart sank, as he could not understand who would just dump an amazing dog like that. He decided to hold onto the dog for a few weeks while looking for the owners in hopes of him not being dumped, but just escaped.  On his way home, he stopped by a vet that was able to scan him for a microchip. Sadly, he was not chipped. Information was left at the vets and they even took a picture of him for their wall.

Over the next few weeks, Joshua decided he needed to get Rocky checked out and start working on getting his health back up. After a brief examination, he learned Rocky was underweight, had fleas, ticks, hookworms, water in the lungs, and the worst of all, he was heartworm positive. Joshua immediately received medications and updated Rocky’s immunizations.

Rocky was on his way to overcoming his ailments. As time went on, no one ever came forward for Rocky. Joshua decided that after doing the right thing in looking for his owners, he would keep Rocky. His biggest concern was getting heartworm treatment, as the cost was approximately $2,000. In one of Rocky’s follow-ups, his water on the lungs turned into bronchitis. This poor boy just could not catch a break it seemed. The plus side, no more fleas, ticks, or hook worms so he was moving in the right direction.

After a couple more weeks, the bronchitis cleared up and it was time to talk with the vet about moving forward with heartworm treatments. He knew he did not have that kind of money, but he had to do something. He confided in a friend and it was suggested to do a go-fund me campaign. Joshua had nothing to lose so decided to make one. To his surprise, his friends all came together for him and Rocky and he had the money in 3 days!  He was beyond grateful for them.

He made the vet appointment and they took a closer look at his heart to see the severity of the heartworms. To their dismay, it was realized he had severe heartworms. It was decided upon to do the quick kill despite the risks of it. Over the next couple of months, Rocky underwent his treatment and each scheduled visit, they tested him first to find out he was heartworm negative! The treatment was a success and he was truly on his way to recovery!

Over the next year, Joshua and Rocky bonded even more. They relied on each other and began to trust each other to no end. Rocky had behavioral issues including resource guarding. With much patience, Rocky has overcome these issues.

Once this happened, Joshua wanted to give back more to this amazing breed and began researching Husky Rescues in Texas. After much deliberation, he decided to apply to foster for Texas Sled Dog Rescue (TSDR) and was approved! He was excited to work with them and be able to help other dogs in need! Over the next couple of years, Joshua fostered five huskies and was able to get them all into the right homes. He also adopted his second husky, Holland, by “foster failing” with her.

His desire to give more and more to the huskies in need left him at a cross roads with TSDR. He was beyond grateful for the opportunity to learn about the rescue world and give back to these dogs but something was still missing to him. He then began to research starting his own rescue. He even went as far as going back to school to learn about how to manage a nonprofit.

Joshua graduated October 2021 from Southern New Hampshire University with his Bachelor’s in Business and a focus on Nonprofit Management. With time, patience, and support from the community, he was able to make his goal of creating a Husky rescue in the Texas Coastal Bend a reality. He founded Rocky Road Husky Rescue in 2022.

Without Rocky ever coming into his world, he never would have wanted to learn more about the breed and what rescuing is all about. This is why this rescue is known as “The House that Rocky Built”.