Rocket the Carolina Dog:
A Resilient Survivor How Exploitative Systems Create Unnecessary suffering in the Innocent and Vulnerable .

Rocket is was a Carolina Dog - a breed also known as the "American Dingo" and "America's Only Wild Dog". You shouldn't know Rocket only by the trauma he endured after being removed from a home set up for his blindness, so here's more about our beloved furry friend.

About Rocket: An Example of America's "Only Wild Dog" and the Former Spirit of Hampton Park

Update: On June 17, 2026 Rocket died, with Chris and Meaghan at his side, petting and comforting him.

What makes that relevant to to McNeil v SAC 181 is that he suffered unnecessarily due to dental issues that made it painful to eat, and lost ~25% of his weight since the forced displacement. We had planned to get the surgery, but the impact on Chris' business of the forced moved and subsequent defense exhaustion and harassment tactics meant we could not longer afford it.

And, yes, we did plead with defense to settle early in the case, for this very reason, multiple times - it's even on the public docket in the November 20, 2025 Plaintiff's Response to Defense Request for Continuance and Motion for Protective Conditions. (This was before we had to commit to a jury trial)

They declined, in favor of gaslighting and harassment that generated a nervous breakdown and 76/80 PCL-5 "extreme" PTSD score.

Vulnerable people need to feel safe in asking for justice, or we have a broken system. Rocket’s suffering will not be in vain, nor will mine or Meaghan’s. We’re changing these broken systems.
Rocket, smiling as usualWhen we lived at the house in Wagener Terrace in downtown Charleston - the one at the center of the lawsuit this website tracks - Rocket was the intrepid adventurer of the neighborhood, nearby Hampton Park, and Downtown Charleston in General.

Every day, rain or shine, we walked the paths of Hampton Park - circling due to its history as Washington Race Course, an oval horse racetrack in the 19th century - because Rocket wouldn't let us off the hook. He needed his adventures and let us know with a "snout toss" of a human arm or leg. And he didn't just "walk"; he proudly patrolled, as if he was King of Hampton Park. Maybe he was, in a sense. That "snout tossing" is apparently a relic of his ancestor's burrowing tendencies - they use their snouts to dig into the ground, a Carolina Dog idiosyncrasy Rocket exhibited, like how he howled with the saxophone on Van Morrison's Moondance and followed people to the bathroom, sitting outside to guard a fellow pack member during a vulnerable moment as his ancestors did, to the amusement of our friends.

He was our constant shadow, accompanying us to outdoor cafes, joining us on shopping trips, and resting at my feet while I worked or played guitar. In a city of history, he was our personal connection to a wild past long predating the settling of Charleston by the English in 1670. Rocket is a Carolina Dog - or American Dingo - carrying the DNA of ancient canines whose origins in the Americas stretch back far longer than the European settlers who brought in breed such as Mastiffs and Greyhounds. That history is written in his ginger coat , attentive ears, and his intense, yet kind and soulful eyes that seem to continually be both smiling and mournful, as if for a way of life lost.

He is a survivor by nature, a "living fossil" of the American Southeast, and that resilience has continually amazed us, even as he lost his sight the last few years.

About the Carolina Dog


Rediscovered and documented in the 1970s by Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Carolina Dogs are characterized by their dingo-like appearance, fishhook tail, and self-sufficient, pack-oriented behavior, existing as a "pariah dog" or landrace shaped by natural selection, not human breeding.

The distinctive characteristics of the Carolina Dog breed are those that confer survival advantages under free-ranging conditions in the remaining remote areas of tall grasslands, bottomland swamps, deserts, and forest habitats of the southern United States. The Carolina Dog was recognized by the United Kennel Club on January 1, 1995.
resting RocketBefore everything changed, Rocket was the enforcer of our walking routines. He was our constant shadow, accompanying us to outdoor cafes, joining us to go to Blue Bicycle Books for something to read or to Record Stop for some vinyl to listen to. And he was almost always smiling, except now when he winces when he eats, because he needs dental surgery. More on that in a bit. As he aged and his sight faded, our home on Gordon Street became his sanctuary. We built a world he could navigate by memory - a mental map of safety where he knew exactly where the walls were and where I had placed a step so he could get up on the couch he had claimed as his bed.

He didn't need working eyes to know he was loved; he felt it in the stability of his environment.

The Move That Broke the Sanctuary

When we got the Notice to Vacate - seemingly out of the blue during good-faith lease negotiations, and after 5 1/2 years of being model tenants in good standing - that stability was stolen from him. The forced move took his map. We ended up in a house picked in a hurry, one that was packed high because it had been furnished and we had our own furniture, so didn't need that - but there wasn't time to empty it ahead of us getting in. Rocket ended up getting stuck under a couch, whimpering for hours, making a noise I first thought was a squeaky AC bearing but now I will never forget - until I found him and threw the couch to the side to set him free.

Rocket the Carolina Dog resting He is learning to navigate the new place, but his battles aren't over. Now, watching this proud, ancient spirit wince in pain because we now cannot afford his dental surgery due to the high costs of the disruption to my business and the ongoing legal fight against multiple defendants and law firms, is the hardest part of this fight.

We aren't just fighting for tenant rights and respect for pro se litigants; we are fighting for the dignity of Rocket and all vulnerable beings who depend on a stable environment. Rocket's suffering will not be in vain, and neither will ours. We will not accept a settlement in the dark, only visible accountability with structural change as a redemption path or the defendants can fight until the end and face a jury in a high-visibility trial.

What is a Carolina Dog?

Also called the American Dingo or Dixie Dingo, it is a primitive dog breed often found living wild or semi-wild in the southeastern United States.

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Since Carolina Dogs are "America's only wild dog", what was Rocket's temperament and behavior like?

Rocket was gentle and extremely loyal. He was almost always happy but lit up especially when Meaghan was around - she was his favorite person - and loved to be around people in general, but was also very undemanding.

He was wonderful with children and we had never known him to bite or even snap at anyone, ever. Not even once.

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How did Rocket get his name?

When he was younger he would tear around the house at high speed right after he pooped, which earned him the nickname 'Poop Rocket.' The 'Rocket' part stuck.

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What were some things about Rocket that might be peculiar to Carolina Dogs?

He howled mournfully along with the saxophone solo in Van Morrison's 'Moondance.' He got our attention by 'snout tossing' — driving his snout under an arm and flipping it up, a behavior we understand comes from Carolina Dogs burrowing. And he followed anyone heading to the bathroom and stood guard outside the door until they were done. It did not matter who. Visitors got a kick out of it.

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Why did Rocket's blindness make the move so much worse?

A blind dog navigates by memory. We had spent years setting up the Gordon Street house so he could move through it safely on his own. The forced move erased that map in a single day and replaced it with an unfamiliar house packed with boxes and furniture in the wrong places. He had to relearn everything with no eyes, on failing hips, at fourteen-fifteen years old.

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What happened with Rocket and the couch?

We had to move in a hurry - we had not planned on moving, as we had been model tenants who were on time with rent the entire duration of our lease at 181 Gordon Street, and the "Ghost" notice to vacate, followed by the false "owner wants to do renovations" (contradicted by their immediately listing and showing the house) notice to vacate came as a shock.

Our SUV had been in the shop with electrical gremlins that were taking a while to sort out, so we ended up with only 10 days to find a place to live and, under time pressure, picked the first house we looked at. It was furnished already, which was an issue since we had our own furniture, though the landlady said she would move their furniture out.

But that took a while and, for quite some time, the living room was stacked high with boxes and furniture to the point where it was impossible to walk from one side of the room to the other. The only accessible space was along one wall.

Rocket, blind, and in an unfamiliar environment, got himself wedged underneath an antique couch and could not get out, making a high-pitched howling sound. Chris was home and initially thought the noise was a broken air conditioner, because Rocket had never made that sound before.

When Chris finally went looking for Rocket and found him, Rocket was trapped helplessly under the heavy couch - hurt and terrified, where he had been for hours. Chris has not yet forgiven himself for not getting to Rocket sooner.

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