Written by Christelle Erwee
Professional photography by Mel Photography
We lost our Boerboel on the 8th of January 2021 and were looking for a new fur kid to adopt. I was scrolling through various animal rescue pages and came across Bruno’s picture on HART’s Facebook page. We immediately fell in love with little Bruno. I quickly made contact with HART and the adoption process kicked off. After we passed the home check, we excitedly fetched Bruno on the 23rd of January 2021.
Bruno instantly adapted to our home and the two senior rescues we had at that time. He was a very busy little fellow and still is.
He’s very intelligent and was different to all our fur kids we’d ever had, in personality and in looks.
I did research about DNA testing and found MuttMix. We bought the DNA kit, did the test, and the waiting game began. The reason for the DNA test was, first of all, to establish his mix, for it’s important to understand him as well as to know what health issues we can expect when he enters his golden years.
Bruno’s MuttMix Results:
Level 3 Alaskan Malamute
Level 4 Samoyed
Level 4 Belgian Malinois
Level 4 Parson Russell Terrier
Level 4 Chihuahua
We were very surprised by the results. We did know there was definitely some Terrier involved, but for the rest, it was WOW! Now we can understand why Bruno is such an intelligent and energetic little fellow. He’s also very vocal and loves to have his say in any matter. After adoption, Bruno is now Bruno Erwee.
Bruno isn’t big on cuddles – he’ll decide when and with what family member. He adores his baby sister, Nina, and they’re very close and do everything together.
He loves his ball and can play non-stop for hours; in summer we have to hide it until it’s cool enough for him to play. He loves to sit on the table, from where he has a better view of his home.
Every day, Bruno lives life to the fullest and we cannot imagine our house without him.
Bruno’s very clever and intelligent and full of mischief. Adopting Bruno was the best choice, and we’re all enjoying our life journey together.
For added enjoyment... Bruno’s humble beginnings, as written by his foster mum, Roshnee Chinapa
Bruno is a male given name, derived from the Old High German name Brun, meaning “Brown” (modern Standard German: braun). And as you can see, there’s nothing brown about Bruno – we named him after the singer Bruno Mars because of the “swag” this pup had!
When we received a message on the HART group saying that there was a puppy in need we decided as a family that we’d offer to foster him. His story goes like this: a little girl was walking home from school one afternoon; she saw this little furry creature in the field and, when she got closer, she saw it was a puppy.
Needless to say, she picked him up and took him home. Now, we all know every child should grow up with a pet of their very own, but this wasn’t yet meant to be for this little girl because, sadly, her living situation was far from ideal. When mom got home from work and saw said pup and the look on her daughter’s face, she knew she needed to explain why now was just not the right time for them. Mom explained that they were just getting by financially and that the puppy would need special food, a safe space to be during the day, and vaccinations, etc. from the vet. I applaud mom for this, because it then allowed the little girl to suggest that perhaps they could then make sure the puppy went to a good home. Mom was totally on board with that as she was employed by a lady who knew HART.
So, the next day, the little girl said goodbye to the pup, said a prayer that he’d go well and live out his best life, and off to school she went, while pup when to work with mom. Her employer kindly agreed to contact HART on her behalf. They spoke to HART’s founder, Louise Spagnuolo, to share the background information, and then Louise shared the information to the group, where we saw it and offered to foster the pup until he found his people.
When we arrived to fetch the pup (now affectionately known as Bruno), he just looked so sad and defeated, and he had every right to feel that way. The poor guy had a rough start to life. We took him home, gave him a lovely warm bath, and made him some delicious dinner. After that shock to his system, he saw the other foster fail dogs that we have and then the penny dropped: HAVE I ARRIVED? ARE THESE MY PEOPLE?
I took one look at that “emoji face” and said, “No, my man, we’re not your Forever People; we’re your Right Now People. We’re going to look after you and get you back on your feet… and then we’re going to find you the very best family, because that’s what you deserve.”
Let’s assume he understood!
We named him Bruno Mars, and then it started – his personality came out and began to really show itself.
The best way to sum up Bruno would be:
• Mischievous
• Smart
• Cunning
• Disruptive
• Gentle
• Loving
• Super cute
• Full of attitude (also known as getting away with murder)
Now here’s the funny part: some pups stay for a few weeks, others a few months, and, God forbid, some a year or two, but Bruno was hardly with us before he was adopted. I mean, how awesome is that? Who could turn down that face? We received a message from Louise saying that Bruno had an approved application and we needed to bring him to an adoption day in Somerset West.
That morning, we took a drive and explained to Bruno that he needed to bring his A Game because his people were coming to fetch him. I swear, he knew exactly what was happening, because when we arrived and I took him to meet his gorgeous mom, Christelle, it was like love at first sight.
And, right there and then, we knew that Bruno had found the best family for him.
Christelle and I still stay in touch and we enjoy a good chat and laugh around Bruno Mars. He was and will always be a HART (Helderberg Animal Rescue Team) puppy!
This is why we foster, so that good, beautiful families can adopt pavement specials and find their forever fur babies, and in the process we get to meet and become friends with such wholesome people.
Needless to say... Bruno Mars never looked back!
