At the Ionia County Animal Shelter in Michigan, the 7-year-old Staffordshire terrier mix has waited patiently for a permanent family, but nothing has seemed to stick.
Instead, the senior dog stood there watching as his shelter pals went out with their new parents one by one. He was eventually the last one remaining.
“Capone was the only dog we had at the shelter for quite some time,” Carly Quinn, director of the Ionia County Animal Shelter, told The Dodo. “With the exception of gentle, calm, kind Capone, all the kennels were empty.”
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Capone was adopted immediately after being brought to the shelter in 2017, but he returned a year later following a quarrel with another dog visiting his home.
Capone was despondent and stopped eating after being homeless for the second time.
“He dropped quite a bit of weight because he just didn’t have the appetite he had at home,” Quinn observed. “It was difficult to get him to eat. We had to tempt him with snacks and other wet meals on a daily basis.”
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Quinn saw Capone’s hunger strike as a warning sign of something more severe.
“He was sad,” Quinn explained, “and anybody who has experienced profound loss knows how proper eating takes a back seat.”
But Capone was more than simply heartbroken; he was frightened of being rejected again.
“The Capone we met in 2017 and the Capone we met in 2018 were two completely different canines,” Quinn explained. “After the second time he was surrendered, he seemed to pick and choose his buddies, as if he actually felt betrayed.” He developed a strong attachment to the shelter personnel.”
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Quinn said, “He’s a velcro dog.” “A dog who constantly wants to be right close to you, caressing you.”
Because the shelter workers now believed Capone would thrive in a home with no other pets, finding the older dog the proper environment proved difficult. Shelter employees frequently shared his photo on social media, ensuring that everyone in the neighborhood was aware that the dog was available and eager to meet his future home.
That is exactly what happened.
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Quinn couldn’t believe it when she spotted a post on the shelter’s Facebook page from a couple asking about Capone. “They’d fallen in love with his photographs and his story,” Quinn explained. “They had already gone to the pet store and created him a bespoke name tag with his name and their information when they arrived into our shelter later that day.”
Capone, on the other hand, had been cautious about who he let into his heart after being surrendered twice.
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Quinn knew he wouldn’t go with just anybody, so she held her breath as she approached his kennel. “My crew and I are crossing our fingers that Capone will want them,” Quinn explained. “As I moved into the lobby with Capone, he stopped and looked at Jon and Ashlee for a while. They both knelt down and Capone ran right into their arms.”
“It was truly a tearjerker,” she added.
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
The loneliest dog in the shelter had finally found his forever home, and workers couldn’t help but cry as they observed the beautiful finale to Capone’s story.
Capone’s new owners took a photo of the dog settling into his new house once they arrived home, and his look says it all:
CREDIT: IONIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
“Look at that smile,” a shelter volunteer, Sammie Vincent, said on Facebook. “The personnel at the shelter genuinely shed tears of joy for Capone.”
