Van Tornado Victims' Dog On Road To Recovery With New Family

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VAN(CBSDFW.COM) - As the tornado took aim on the small town of Van, David and Brenda Tapley held on.  The Texas twister crushed their home and yet somehow in their final moments, the retired couple still found a way to hold onto their dog.

"They found her in the deceased owner's arms - Mr Tapley's,"  says Missy Shockley, Emma's new owner.  "It gets to me."

Emma is bruised and has a busted eardrum along with head trauma.  What she didn't have after the tornado was a home or an owner.  That was until Shockley, a volunteer with Nicolas Pet Haven found Emma in the back of a crate.

♦♦♦CLICK HERE TO HELP RESCUED DOGS FROM VAN TORNADO♦♦♦

"They'd been talking, trying to get her out of the crate," says Shockley.  "She didn't want to so I climb back into the pickup and started loving on her and she came into my lap."

And just like that, Emma had a new owner. "Knowing what she went through - knowing what that they lost their lives - maybe she was put in my hands for a reason," says Shockley.

Emma is one of more than a dozen dogs the Nicolas Pet Haven rescued from Van, including six others owned by the Tapleys.

"We are going to find the perfect home for these dogs," says Cindy Nash, the director of Nicolas Pet Haven.

Nash says all of the dogs were traumatized and are in need of special care.  But she says, seeing Emma for the first time since the tornado, walking and wagging her tail, gives her hope there's a new beginning for all of these dogs.

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