He’s absolutely adorable with his teeth stinking out!!🥰
The most beautiful part is that Funny Bones was not an “easy” adoption, and his family still chose him. Senior dogs with quirks, anxiety, history, and special needs deserve homes too.
At DARG, an animal rescue in Cape Town, South Africa, he had become something of a local celebrity. His unusual smile, quirky personality, and goofy senior-dog energy made people fall in love with him online. But finding him the right home was never simple.
Funny Bones had been through a lot before he became the dog everyone knew at the shelter. According to DARG Managing Director Faustina Gardner, he was stabbed when he was young, and that is how he first ended up in their care. Growing up in a shelter was hard on him.
The kennel environment made him anxious and frustrated, and over time he developed coping habits like digging and obsessing over sticks, balls, and toys.
He was lovable, cuddly, playful, and full of personality, but he also needed a very specific home.
He had arthritis, so he needed a single-story house. He had a strong prey drive, so he could not live with cats. He was anxiety-prone, so DARG knew his adoption would have to be slow and carefully handled. Over the years, families would fall in love with him, but again and again, they had cats at home, and the match could not work.
So Funny Bones waited.
Year after year.
In January 2024, DARG shared his adoption plea again, and this time his story spread far beyond Cape Town. People from around the world, even families in Canada and Australia, showed interest. But behaviorists advised that he should stay local to avoid adding too much stress to his transition.
Then the right family came along.
They had recently lost their 15-year-old dog and wanted to give a senior shelter dog a chance. They were not scared off by Funny Bones’ digging, his anxiety, or his need for patience. They visited, did sleepovers, and slowly helped him understand that this was not just another temporary stop.
After about two months, everyone knew.
Funny Bones was home.
Now he sleeps near his new mom, wakes her with his famous smile, follows his people around, and is finally learning what it means to be loved outside shelter walls.
His story is a reminder that some dogs do not need a perfect past to deserve a future.
They just need one family willing to say, “We see you. We understand you. And we are not giving up.”
Funny Bones waited for years because the right home had to understand him, not just love his photo. That is what makes this adoption so powerful. He was finally chosen exactly as he is.
Stories like this hit so hard because so many dogs are passed over for being too old, too anxious, too complicated, or “too much work.” But sometimes those are the very dogs who love the deepest once they realize someone is truly staying.
