What started as a temporary shelter for a pregnant pit bull turned into a heartwarming story that changed the lives of Bobby Keane and his wife Danni from Maryland forever.
Two littermates, named Norman and Annabelle, were permanently adopted by the couple. While Norman is the family's goofball, Annabelle is very reserved. However, it is her and her obsession with Bobby that went viral on TikTok.
Bobby shared an adorable video of him and Annabelle cuddling on his neck while she was still a baby vs now when she is a full-grown dog with a caption: "Don't let your puppy do anything you wouldn't want them doing when they're grown." Lots of people related to his video, which led it to generate 2M views on TikTok.
Meet two inseparable littermate pit bulls, Norman and Annabelle
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Bobby Keane and his wife Danni took in their mother from a shelter when she was a week away from giving birth to 12 puppies
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Bored Panda reached out to the Keane family to learn more about Annabelle and Norman. We asked them to share the full story of how the puppies came into their lives.
“Their mom was surrendered to a local shelter when she was 1 week away from giving birth. A rescue posted her on FB and asked for fosters. We picked her up later that day from the shelter and she gave birth to a litter of 12 one week later,” shared Bobby’s wife Danni.
“Their mom was surrendered to a local shelter when she was 1 week away from giving birth. A rescue posted her on FB and asked for fosters. We picked her up later that day from the shelter and she gave birth to a litter of 12 one week later,” shared Bobby’s wife Danni.
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
The couple had no intention of keeping any of them, but fate had a different plan in store
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Nowadays, Annabelle and Norman seem to have pretty active daily schedules from what we’ve seen on Instagram. We asked Danni to tell us more about their day-to-day activities.“Their day-to-day lives are pretty structured. They are still pretty young and have a lot of energy, so we do mental stimulation activities with them every day. We also like to take them on adventures, whether it's going to a park, hiking trail, or renting a SniffSpot,” wrote Danni.
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Besides the two dogs becoming best buds, Annabelle became daddy’s girl since 3 weeks old, while his wife and daughter connected with Norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Bobby Keane felt a pull towards Annabelle, and one evening he put her on his shoulder where the puppy fell asleep
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
We also asked the Keane family to share more about how Annabelle’s obsession with Bobby started. Danni wrote: “One night when Annabelle was 3 weeks old, Bobby picked her up and put her on his shoulder, and she fell asleep. It became a regular thing after that. They bonded in that moment. He's never tried to stop her from doing it. There will be times when she gets a little overbearing, and he makes her move until she calms down, but once she does, she comes back and falls asleep on his shoulder.”
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Little did he know that a 56-pound pit bull would still like to cuddle on his shoulder years later
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
On TikTok, Bobby humorously stated that curbing certain dog behaviors in adulthood begins by avoiding them during their puppy phase
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
The video went viral and also got a lot of comments from people relating to this ‘issue’ with their dogs as well
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Norman and especially Annabelle became internet famous overnight. We asked if the Keane family ever imagined one of their videos going viral. Danni responded: “We never know what is going to go viral, LOL. We have never been social media people, and we never would have thought we'd be running a social media account for our dogs, but here we are. We don't take it too seriously. We do it for fun. It's our way of making a video diary of sorts of our lives with our dogs. It's something sweet we will be able to look back on once they've passed.”
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
The story of Annabelle and Norman began unexpectedly but blossomed into a beautiful friendship, and a total obsession with Bobby, which we are happy to see
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Norman and Annabelle have come a long way. The couple shared that they are now 3 years old and could not live without each other. However, we wanted to know if they get along with other animals.
“We have no other animals, and we don't allow them to play with other animals. They play pretty rough with each other. A lot of dogs would not like or understand their play style, so they only play with each other. Better safe than sorry. We've also never been the type of people that think dogs need friends,” shared Danni.
“We have no other animals, and we don't allow them to play with other animals. They play pretty rough with each other. A lot of dogs would not like or understand their play style, so they only play with each other. Better safe than sorry. We've also never been the type of people that think dogs need friends,” shared Danni.
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman
Image credits: annabelle_and_norman