You’d be surprised by how fun photobombing, the act of purposefully putting yourself into the view of a picture being taken, usually for no other reason than to just amuse yourself, really is.
Whether it’s you doing the photobombing, or you being a victim of a photobombing, or even a third party taking a glance at a photobombed picture, there’s fun to be had all around.
And as it turns out, dogs are into that thing too. Whether this one particular dog was doing it because she wanted to be a part of everything, or simply because she wanted to mess with her owner, it all resulted in some hilarious pictures that soon went viral on the internet.
Meet Penny, the coonhound who's been making rounds on the internet for not posing for a Christmas card
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
Meet Penny, an absolutely adorable rescued coonhound from Brockton, Massachusetts, who’s now living together with her hoomans Deanna Greenstein, with whom Bored Panda got in touch, and her family of 7—husband and 5 kids.
"We adopted Penny from the Northeast Animal Shelter in April of 2019, a few months after our beloved Boston Terrier Henry passed away from old age. Penny had been found in a box next to a dumpster in Georgia with 11 other puppies, and they were transported to Massachusetts to find homes," explained Deanna.
She continued: "I felt that instant connection to Penny though, and knew that she was meant to be our pup. We brought her home that day, and her shyness disappeared the second she was out of the shelter. She became part of the mix of kids immediately, and she’s a happy, energetic, exceptionally friendly dog."
Penny's hooman Deanna wanted to snap a Christmas card photo that would include the kids and the pupper
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
As soon as Penny was brought to her forever home, she became the life of the party. So, since she quickly became an inherent part of the family, it was also natural for her to be included in the family Christmas photo. And this is where things got out of hand in the family fun department.
Deanna sat all of the kids and the pupper at the fireplace for a family Christmas photo. Everything was fine until the first snap of the picture when Penny decided the photo needed some more action and she was simply rowdy. After several attempts, Penny was excluded from the photo, and it was just the kids.
Well, that didn’t go so well either as every single shot that Deanna took was effectively photobombed by Penny. Deanna explained that she was very likely insulted by being taken out of the picture, so she began leaping in front of the camera, jumping on the kids, barking, and simply being all over the place.
However, Penny would not cooperate—she was just too excited to sit still
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
Deanna elaborated: "Our initial plan for the Christmas picture had been to have Penny sitting with the kids, but she was not being cooperative in the least. After about a dozen attempts at a picture with her, I decided to try again later, and moved on to take pictures of just the kids."
"She was not pleased with that, and proceeded to leap in front of the camera, jumping on all of the kids, bopping me with her nose, licking the camera, and causing a general ruckus. I took probably a hundred pictures, and afterwards the kids and I had a blast looking at them and laughing."
"We decided together to make a card from Penny, with us as her entourage. We didn’t say anything to my husband, just told him to pick up the cards at Walgreens after. He got such a laugh when he opened the box in the parking lot!"
So when Penny was excluded from the photos, she kept on butting back in and photobombing the pics
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
The family had a good laugh and decided the Christmas card now had to include all of these "failed" attempts
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
Regardless, Deanna kept on taking photos, hoping that at least some of them would turn out good enough for the Christmas greeting card she was planning. Well, no and yes. It was all Penny, but when they started looking through the results, Deanna and the kids came up with a better idea than just a boring Christmas card pose.
They (mom and the kids, not the dad, this was a surprise for him) chose the best pictures for the greeting card collage, all laughing hysterically along the way, and sent it to Walgreens to have it printed. Dad was supposed to pick it up without knowing what it really was.
And what began as a rowdy dog not cooperating resulted in an adorable Christmas card that went viral
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
Penny is a very adorable dog, who enjoys playing with the kids and going on walks with the neighbor dog Eli. As is with many dogs, playing in the snow, chewing on bones and eating socks and hair scrunchies is also included into her general daily agenda.
"She steals the kids' toys on a daily basis, and makes a game out of showing the kids that she’s holding the toy, and then making them chase her around the house with it. (She’s a big puppy!)," elaborated Deanna. Oh, and "Zoom bombing", she loves to do that. you know, when the kids are doing remote learning and then a wild Penny appears in the background.
Other than being demanding when it comes to photographs and family time, Penny is a very good girl!
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
Anyway, the result was brilliant: the greeting card featured six pictures of the kids, four of which had Penny being all mischievous and stuff. The text in the middle wished the recipients of the card a “Merry Woofmas” and was signed off by Penny (as well as the entire family).
The pictures originally found themselves on a pet shaming group on Facebook, where they went viral. Online news outlets picked the story up and the rest is history. People loved how adorable Penny is with her pupper temper tantrums seen in the picture. And we think so too!
"We have been so surprised to see Penny go viral! It has definitely been a “pick me up” mood lifter this Christmas season," explained Deanna. "At the beginning of the pandemic, my neighbor and I decided to be silly and make Instagram accounts for our dogs. We have been posting silly pictures of the dogs to cheer up our friends and family, and Penny going viral is like the icing on the cake. I love that it’s bringing a laugh to so many people!"
"She also loves to 'Zoom bomb' the kids during remote learning, and makes hourly appearances in their classes"
Image credits: Deanna Greenstein
We also asked Deanna about possible plans for Christmas cards for next year, given the great success of this year's card. She had this to day:
"As for next year, who knows! Any attempt at a picture with 5 kids and a dog has the possibility to turn into absolute chaos! Penny is definitely like a 6th child to me though, so she will certainly be involved. (And knowing her personality, she will be front and center, no matter what the plan is!)"
Penny has her very own Instagram page which you can find here, but before you go, tell us your thoughts on this. Has your dog made your family pictures better by being a mischievous photobomber? Let us know in the comment section below!
Here's how people online reacted to Penny and her photobombing
