A woman has shared heart-wrenching footage of the moment her dying dog found a special way of letting her know everything would be okay.
In 2024, the Mars Global Pet Parent Study, a survey of over 20,000 pet parents spread across 20 different countries revealed 37 percent consider their furry friend the most important thing in their lives.
When a pet held in that kind of esteem passes away, it leaves a hole in the hearts of those they leave behind. Nicole, from Michigan, who preferred not to share her full name, knows this only too well, following the death of her beloved dog.
For over a decade, Nicole called Barkley her “soul dog.” Her husband handpicked him from a litter of puppies aged just 6 weeks old in 2011, and life wasn’t always easy for Barkley. “He always had trouble with his ears and was basically allergic to everything,” Nicole told Newsweek. But he was an outgoing dog, often at his happiest during family trips up north in the summer.
“One of his favorite things to do was to go to the cottage and swim in the lake,” Nicole said. “He spent more time in the water than anyone.”
By then, Barkley was no longer Nicole’s “only child.” She and her husband had three children together, with Barkley emerging as a “gentle giant” and the best “big brother” during those tricky first few years as a parent.
“He would be right by me during night feeds, or being home all day alone with a newborn,” Nicole said. “He comforted the kids when they cried.”
Dogs have been known to demonstrate an ability to read human emotions. In 2022, a study published in the journal Animal Cognition saw a group of canines presented with a social interaction between two people that was either positive, negative or neutral.
The canines were given the opportunity to approach food that was either freely available for them, or needed the help of one of the people from the previous interactions they witnessed.
At the time of their choice, the people displayed only neutral expressions meaning the dogs were required to glean meaning from the previous emotional expressions to decide which course to take.
Time and again, the dogs opted for the human that had shown positive expression and avoided the negative one. This suggests that canines can acquire information from emotional expressions and infer some form of emotional state that then influences their decision-making.
Barkley’s own ability to read human emotion goes beyond that, though, as Nicole knows from personal experience. “I’ve been through a lot personally,” she said. “Had an ectopic pregnancy and he knew. I know he did. He wouldn’t leave my side for two weeks. He would always curl up next to me, wherever I was.”
So many of Nicole’s fondest memories are of fun times like how Barkley loved chasing golf carts, was obsessed with tennis balls, and regularly got involved in the annual family cornhole-eating competition. Yet those two weeks with him were among their most special together.
“He comforted me so much; it made me feel a type of love I didn’t know existed. Made me feel like I wasn’t alone in my thoughts,” Nicole said. “He made me feel special. He was very emotionally aware, with all of us.”
Barkley provided one last reminder of that awareness in late September of last year. By then, the problems with his ears that had persisted for much of his life had worsened, while arthritis and suspected congestive heart failure left him struggling to enjoy life in the way he once had.
After a family camping trip, the decision was made. Barkley spent the next four days enjoying “anything and everything” he could ever want before slipping away with Nicole and her husband by his side to the very end.
At some point before then, Nicole captured one last memory of Barkley. A clip that summed up so much of what made him her “soul dog” and one she shared to TikTok under the handle @nic0leleigh. It showed Nicole, cuddled close to Barkley, tearful at the prospect of losing her beloved dog. In an instant, Barkley responds, licking away her tears. “That was very typical of Barkley,” Nicole said.
So much has changed since that video was filmed and Barkley died. “We have a new dog now, and It helps,” Nicole said. “He’s not Barkley, and that’s OK. His name is Roman and he’s helping me heal. I love him already so much and I know one day he’ll be connected with me, like Barkley was.”
Barkley may be gone, but some part of him will always remain with Nicole. In that sense, he truly is her soul dog.
The post What Woman’s Dying ‘Soul Dog’ Does at the End Has Her—and Internet—Sobbing appeared first on Newsweek.
