15-year-old dying dog lives to see his beloved human get married
15-year-old dying dog lives to see his beloved human get married
Dogs are, without question, the most loyal and gentle creatures on Earth. And the bond between a human and their four-legged companion is hard to describe in words. This beautiful story is about the love, respect and deep bond that a human and a dog can share.
Kelly O’Connell and her beloved puppy, Charlie Bear, met 15 years ago. At the time, the 19-year-old was volunteering at a local animal shelter in New York State. Charlie was only 12 weeks old when he arrived at the shelter after people found him in a shopping cart, frozen. Although Kelly wasn’t looking to adopt a dog at the time, when she saw the little one, she knew it had to happen. “He came in, and I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m going to take this puppy home,'” she recalls.
After a few years, Kelly, who had meanwhile graduated from veterinary school, moved to Colorado where she met James Garvin (also a veterinarian). It was love at first sight and soon after they met, they decided to move in together (and Charlie too, of course). It wasn’t long before Kelly and James decided to get married. Of course, they wanted Charlie to be there too. But unfortunately, the 15-year-old dog was diagnosed with a brain disease. His condition was getting worse and he was very weak.
His human parents were concerned that he would not be able to be there on their wedding day. “I had made an appointment for someone to come to the house and we were going to euthanize him a week before the wedding because he had had five seizures and we were like, ‘This is too much, I don’t want to do this for him anymore,'” said Kelly!
Miraculously, a week before the wedding, Charlie began to feel better. “Finally, it was almost like he was saying to himself, ‘No, I want to see this,'” the woman said. “He was getting better. [He] seemed like a whole new dog.”
Charlie did attend the wedding of his favorite humans and the moments they shared were so touching. Thankfully, the adorable scenes were captured by wedding photographer Jen Dziuvenis.
“There’s not enough mascara in the world for these moments,” Jen said. “This is what love looks like. Love for family, love for animals… This is the most touching demonstration I’ve ever seen.”
A week later, Charlie was euthanized and died peacefully, surrounded by his loving family. He will always be remembered by Kelly and Jason! “It was a phenomenal 15 years. That’s for sure,” Kelly said.
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H/T: boredpanda |washingtonpost
