Viral post helps dog get adopted after a year

SOUTH BEND, Ind.— It’s not easy to find senior dogs forever homes. Especially for dogs like 8-year-old Kane, an American Bulldog Mix, who had many restrictions to his application.

“He did have a friend that he came in with but through our individual assessments and volunteer trainers that have come in and assessed him, he just was always giving us signals that we wanted to respect and we were able to watch for that he wasn’t going to get along with other dogs. He had a very high drive with cats and because he’s so big we always put that caution on no kids under 10,” SBARC Manager Lindsay Cuellar said.

For 311 days, Kane was living at the South Bend Animal Resource Center with no applications and no visitors.

“He basically has always been the happy boy. He kind of you know was very reserved guarded when we first brought him in as they all are, where am I where did you take me but as he learned we are here to love him, we’re here to take care of him, we’re going to do the best we can for you, he really opened up,” Cuellar said.

As time went on, Kane, described as happy boy, started to lose his spark. That’s when the SBARC used the power of social media to call on the community to help.

“It was kind of our last plea. we weren’t really sure what was going to happen to him that following week. We posted it that Monday morning and by that evening we were being flooded with shares and comments, messages on Facebook, phone calls and it was nonstop for a good 72, 56 hours constantly getting applications in getting phone calls in,” Cuellar said.

Somewhere in that endless sea of applications, they were able to find Kane the perfect match!

“A family member sent me the post about Kane and said maybe this is a possibility knowing that I would be wanting a new dog soon. I took a look at it and thought well this might be the time to help this guy out and have a friend for myself too,” Kane’s Owner Stephanie Payne said.

What was once a dog with little time left, is now a dog with love and a forever companion.

“He’s very happy. He plays, he runs around and plays and he sleeps a lot he’s kind of lazy sometimes he’s not crazy about going outside right now because it’s a little cold out,” Payne said. “He’s so friendly and he’s so happy. He just comes up to me all the time and licks me and cuddles and he’s pretty great.”

“We are so happy for him, everybody here loves him. Just seeing his excitement and his smile as he realized he was getting to go somewhere was so heartwarming. It was so great,” Cuellar said.

Kane isn’t the only one who found a happy ending. Because Kane received so much global attention with close to 5 thousand shares and hundreds of comments on social media, folks who were interested in him but couldn’t adopt him, ended up going home with a different furry friend who needed a home!

The shelter manager says, it’s been one the most incredible things see’s seen since she’s worked here.

“We still have other dogs here that still need adopted and lots of people when we have told them that Kane’s adoption was pending, he’s in a foster to adopt home, they would say who else do you have and we’ve sent so many other dogs’ home in just the last week just since that Facebook post,” Cuellar said.

Cuellar says the goal is to continue to post and draw attention to their animals on their Facebook page, so just like Kane, they too can find their forever best friend.