The Chihuahua who dashed excitedly across the Bay Bridge early this month finally had something to be excited about on Thursday.

“Here, Ponch,” said a mysterious, gray-haired woman who, with her equally mysterious husband, had been selected from among 50 applicants to be Ponch’s new owners.

Ponch is the dog who scampered across the western span of the Bay Bridge on April 3. Two Highway Patrol officers shut down the bridge and, working as a tag team, managed to corral — and videotape — the runaway dog in a pursuit that went more viral than a case of rabies.

Deluge of applicants

The officers turned the dog over to the Animal Care and Control shelter in San Francisco, which was immediately flooded with applicants who wanted to adopt the dog instead of the other two dozen dogs in the shelter who were every bit as wonderful, if not as famous.

Applications were sifted. Interviews were conducted. Backgrounds were checked. After a final round of face-to-face meetings over the weekend, the shelter picked an elderly San Francisco couple who, in the interest of protecting Ponch’s privacy, declined to give their full names. The woman is Marilyn, her husband of 57 years is Spence and that, said Marilyn, “is all we really want to say about ourselves.”

Gawkers discouraged

Ponch, she explained, does not need a lot of unsolicited admirers dropping by. His life has been eventful enough.

The 10-pound social media star leaped into Marilyn’s lap to seal the deal at 1:15 p.m. Thursday in the shelter’s get-acquainted yard. Because no good deed goes unpunished, Marilyn and Spence were obliged to pony up $135 to make it official. The adoption fee covered such expenses as vaccination, castration and microchip installation. The shelter said that was a bargain, castration being no small thing, even for a Chihuahua.

Also on hand was CHP Officer Vu Williams who, with his partner, Garrett Pumphrey, had managed to snag Ponch using what Williams called “the old bullfighting technique.”

Coordinated rescue

Williams, in his squad car, had driven ahead of the dog, then got out and distracted the skittish pooch by waving his jacket, matador-style. That allowed Pumphrey to slip up behind on his motorcycle and snag the distracted dog. The rescue made the two officers very happy. Also happy were the hundreds of westbound motorists who had been obliged to wait out the drama.

“In my line of work, you don’t always have happy endings like this,” said Williams.

Ponch, named for a character in the old “CHiPS” TV show about the Highway Patrol, actually made the decision about his next owner more or less by himself. He doesn’t usually like men, said shelter animal behaviorist Ariana Luchsinger, but he seemed to like Spence who, during the crucial interview, had the sense to sit quietly on a bench and let the dog approach him in his own good time. And Ponch got along well with the couple’s other dog, a Chihuahua named “P.” So while the shelter was sniffing out the couple, that was not the only sniffing going on.

Spence, a retired real estate agent, said Ponch would have the run of the couple’s home, and would be allowed to sleep under the covers because, according to the shelter, that’s what he likes to do.

“So do I,” said Spence. “It will work out.”

S.F. shows heart

He said he was attracted to Ponch mainly because of what his rescue showed about San Francisco. Not every town would shut down a major thoroughfare to save a dog, he said.

“First Batkid and now this,” said Spence. “San Francisco has heart.”

Luchsinger lamented that all the fuss over Ponch had not generated more interest in the shelter’s other dogs, who would have gladly run across the Bay Bridge if that’s what it takes to get out of stir.

“They’re all wonderful,” said Luchsinger. “Just like Ponch. Come on down and find out for yourself.”

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com