Priyanka Johri

Advocacy: Animals

By Teresa Kenney

The first time I spoke with Priyanka Johri it was over the phone. I was moving to The Woodlands, Texas, from Seattle and looking for a temporary place to live for myself and my two dogs while I waited for the purchase of my home to close. Johri’s a realtor who also manages several pet-friendly, furnished rentals—hence, our conversation. One of the first things she asked me was, “What kind of dogs do you have?” “Uh oh,” I thought, glancing over at my two loving, but large and formidable-looking pups. “One is a pit bull and the other a German shepherd mix, but they are both very sweet. Would you like to meet them first?” “No,” she replied, dismissively. “I just wondered if they are indoor or outdoor dogs. I only allow indoor dogs.” And a friendship was born.

Johri’s real estate company, I came to find out, is actually just a front for her animal rescue, Pure Mutts Animal Sanctuary. It pays the bills, so to speak, and for her there are many, thanks to the types of dogs she rescues: senior, disabled, terminally ill, those that have, quite literally in many cases, been thrown out with the trash.

A geologist by degree, Johri left a well-paying career in Texas’s oil industry 12 years ago to open her sanctuary. Her inspiration for this new path was a small, white pit bull puppy that had been abandoned and chained to a tree without food or water for three days. Her husband stumbled across the pup and brought it home. Johri, who grew up in India believing dogs were dirty, reluctantly allowed it to stay—“for only one night.”

Ah, but the puppy’s charm proved too much to resist. Within days, the dog went from sleeping outside in the yard, to sleeping on the floor in the hallway, to sleeping at the foot of the couch in the living room, to making herself comfortable on the couch, itself. Johri named the dog Moti—Hindi for “pearl”—and the rest, as they say, is history. After Moti passed away, more dogs found their way to Johri’s home, and in 2007, Pure Mutts Animal Sanctuary was born. 

Today, Pure Mutts is home to approximately 40 dogs, but that number changes as some are adopted, others pass away with age and still others join the pack. The sanctuary acts as hospice for some, permanent home for others and a stop over for still more. Most have been severely neglected or abused, many are seniors, some are deaf or blind and several have injuries that limit their mobility. 

Pure Mutts is a no-cage sanctuary, and the dogs live as a pack. Every room in Johri’s home is open to them, and each dog has its preferred space and favorite buddy to hang out with. Multiple doggie doors, decks and ramps allow the dogs easy access to the more than 1 acre of land. On any given day, you can find dogs playing in the sand box, doggy-paddling in a pool, chilling out in a hammock or just romping in the grass. To accommodate even more dogs, including those that aren’t that fond of other dogs, Johri built cabins on her property, complete with comfy chairs and fenced-in playgrounds. 

You’d think that running a hugely successful real estate company and a 24/7/365 dog sanctuary would be enough for one person’s to-do list, but Johri is not, shall we say, most people. The only way to describe her is to string a bunch of contradictory adjectives together and cross your fingers that they’re adequate: fierce, compassionate, funny, earnest, anti-social, friendly. She simply sees a need and without fanfare goes about filling it. 

When Hurricane Harvey devastated southeast Texas, she hosted a group of out-of-state rescuers, turning an office building she owns into a makeshift hotel, and going out with them on boats to rescue stranded humans and animals. For other disasters around the country, she has asked for help from friends and clients and loaded up rental trucks with donations, oftentimes driving the trucks out to the sites of the disasters herself. 

Two years ago, when she learned that some of her clients’ parents were being forced to leave their beloved dogs behind as they went into assisted care, she made another decision: She was going to open an assisted living home that allowed residents to bring their own dogs. “That’s impossible,” I thought. A month or two later, she proved me wrong, opening Acorn Manor Assisted Living. 

Johri claims she sends her requests out into the universe and the universe responds affirmatively. Based on her results, I have no reason to question her claim or her universe. This is her world. I’m just happy to be living in it. •

Favorite quote? “Be a game changer. The world has enough followers”

Who inspires you? “I do not understand hero worship except when it’s a dog. I find lot of acts from different human beings inspiring. But I think all human beings are flawed and yet have moments of greatness. It’s the acts that inspire me not the human beings. I am flawed.” 

Advice for someone wanting to rescue animals? “Think from your heart, not from your brain. Just do it.”