Mourning dog pictured at former owner's hospital bed finds new home

MORRIS COUNTY – A photo of a 3-year-old lab mix as he sat beside his recently deceased owner’s empty hospital bed went viral and resulted in his adoption. 

The dog named Moose was photographed waiting for his owner to return to the hospital bed, apparently unaware he had died, according to a post on the Eleventh Hour Rescue’s Facebook page. Moose was returned to the county-based shelter and its Randolph kennels where his new family found him.

"MOOSE HAS BEEN ADOPTED by a wonderful family who will care for and love him for the rest of his life!" reads the new Eleventh Hour Rescue social post. 

“Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts! We wish all of our dogs had the same chance at finding a home as Moose does now!” read the post.

Moose first arrived at the shelter over a year ago after he was relocated from Georgia, where he was found tied to a railroad post outside a rural shelter, according to the post. He found a new home about a year ago.

“While at our rescue, Moose made lots of friends with the volunteers. We were won over by his happy personality and his love for life,” the post read. “We were all rooting for Moose to find his perfect home.”

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While he may have found his perfect home, Moose did not find his forever home and he landed back at the shelter. The shelter’s policy requires adopters unable to keep and care for one of its dogs to return to Eleventh Hour.

The post said Moose is “taking the loss of his dad pretty hard.” He is described as housebroken, a lover of children, okay with dogs, not meant for a home with cats or birds.

Eleventh Hour Rescue a volunteer-run, no kill rescue. Its animals are placed in foster homes, the charity’s Rockaway Mall Adoption Center and its kennel in Randolph prior to adoption.

Eleven Hour Rescue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.