Happy Reunion With Family's Dog

Many of Hurricane Katrina's evacuees were forced to leave their pets behind when they fled.

But CBS News correspondent Jerry Bowen says 9-year-old Sassy is

Before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, her owners left, leaving Sassy with relatives on what they thought was dry ground. But then the levees broke.

"The water started going up high, so my dad and grandpa decided that they needed to leave," says Marie Stein, Sassy's owner. "They pushed an armchair out the door, and put the dog on the armchair and kind of paddled with it going down the street."

Eventually, says Bowen, a passing boater rescued them, but the shelter he took them to didn't allow pets.

"My dad looked at the boat owner and begged him," Stein says. "He offered him money. He pled with him, 'Keep her. Don't let her drown.' "

Found abandoned on a rooftop, Sassy was among the thousands of pets rescued. Later, she was on an animal airlift to Los Angeles and her picture was posted on the Web site of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — No. 13 on the page but No. 1 in Marie Stein's heart.

"As soon as I seen this dog and the face, I knew automatically that was Sassy," Stein says.

She and her daughter were flown to Los Angeles for a reunion, where a teary-eyed Stein hugged Sassy, long and hard.

And even though she lost every material thing, from her house to her clothing, an emotional Stein says she feels lucky.

"I'm not crying over things anymore," she says. "We've lost a lot. But everybody in my family's lucky to get out and be alive. Now I've got my dog back, so we're whole and we're back as a family. The hurricane didn't get us. We got everybody back."

And when they go back to their temporary home in Louisiana, says Bowen, Sassy gets a T-bone steak. Lucky by every measure.