ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) – It’s another big step in his on-going recovery, — Trooper, the pit bull puppy that survived being dragged down an area interstate just before Thanksgiving is leaving the Humane Society office on Macklind Ave.

Trooper’s next stop is the Long Meadow Rescue Ranch in Union Missouri.

“We still have some concerns about the extensive wounds that he suffered and we want to make sure that everything is okay,” Jeanne Jae with the Missouri Humane Society said Monday.

“He has really made remarkable progress. We’re just so pleased with everything that’s happened to him.”

At the beginning of this year the Humane Society of Missouri said they received at least 1,000 inquiries from people seeking to adopt trooper. Those inquires have increase due to his celebrity status, but Jae said that process hasn’t officially opened and may be a little while.

Trooper made headlines around the world last November with his harrowing tale of being dragged on a truck bumper. It’s believed that his owner 41-year-old Benetta Johnson tried to return Trooper to her ex-husband by having her 13-year-old son tie the puppy to a pickup truck on November 20th. The pick-up truck driver didn’t see the puppy and began driving down Interstate 55.

Animal abuse charges were eventually brought against Johnson.

Humane Society workers named the dog, Trooper because of his “indomitable spirit.”