09/24/2026
Give Dean his dog back!
This one has really got under my skin.
A few months ago truckie Dean Trounson was rolling down the highway south of Carnarvon when he spotted a dog alone on the side of the road. He could have kept driving. He didn't.
Dean stopped his road train, got Tank to come to him and helped get him safely to Perth. At the time Dean was the good bloke everyone wanted to thank. Then Tank became part of Dean's life.
For around seven weeks Dean says Tank lived with him and Asha. He says Tank was loved, looked after and treated as part of his family.
Now Tank is gone.
Dean says he took Tank to Warwick vets after being asked to bring him in. Tank was then taken back and has not been returned. Oldies but Goodies Dog Rescue has reportedly described Tank as a high medical needs dog.
And this is where Dean is asking some bloody reasonable questions.
If Tank had such significant medical needs, Dean wants to know why he wasn't told. Why, according to Dean, did nobody come and check Tank's welfare during those seven weeks, despite him offering them the opportunity to visit his home unannounced? And why, Dean asks, did it take more than six weeks before Tank was called back for further testing?
Dean says he has phone records, messages and an email from Warwick vets that he believes support his version of events. He's now asking for something that seems pretty simple. Have Tank examined by an independent vet with no connection to either side and let the facts speak for themselves.
There are two sides to this dispute. Supporters of the rescue say Tank was still a foster dog and had not formally been adopted. Fine. Let that side be heard too.
But being a rescue organisation doesn't mean people aren't allowed to ask questions.
Rescues do incredibly important work. Most are full of people who give ridiculous amounts of their own time and money to animals nobody else wants. But sometimes the rescue world can become very controlling. The people who foster, transport, feed and open their homes to these animals deserve respect too. When something goes wrong, shutting people down or telling everyone to stop asking questions isn't going to make those questions disappear.
And there's something else worth remembering here.
When Tank was alone beside an outback highway, **Dean stopped.
Not because somebody paid him. Not because it was his responsibility. Because there was a dog that needed help.
He stopped a bloody road train for him.
Then he opened his home to him.
Seven weeks is plenty of time for a dog to stop being "that dog I rescued" and become the mate waiting for you when you walk through the door. Dean says Asha is missing him too.
That's the part paperwork doesn't explain.
So from Australia Road Train Life, we're putting our hand up for one of our own.
Dean, keep asking the questions.
We hope everybody involved puts Tank first, gets an independent assessment done, gets the full story into the open and finds a fair way through this.
And if there's no genuine reason Tank can't go home to the bloke who stopped his road train for him in the first place, then there's going to be one very simple question a lot of people will keep asking:
Why isn't Tank back with Dean?
