It’s amazing how emotionally intelligent dogs can be. They’re able to form real loving friendships with people and other animals… and seem to understand when a loved one passes away.
And just like people, dogs can even go through their own grieving process. That was the case for one dog, who showed his loyalty even after his friends had passed on by visiting their graves every day.
Tricycle is a three-legged golden retriever rescue who lives at Horse Creek Stable Rescue Sanctuary in Mineral Bluff, Georgia.
Living in the farm sanctuary, Tricycle has always had lots of other animals to be friends with. The rescue takes in all kinds of special-needs animals, from dogs to llamas and alpacas.
One of the first animals he formed a bond with was another dog named Major, a St. Bernard/mastiff mix.
Sadly, Major passed away in 2016, and Tricycle seemed to really feel the loss.
Major was buried on the farm, like all the animal’s rescues who pass away, and got his own grave marker. But after his burial, the rescuers noticed something remarkable: Tricycle would stay by the gravesite, mourning his old friend:
He continued to visit for about three days, and his owners knew this was a real grieving process.
“Like many of us, there is a sense of loss that we all need to work through,” Lester Aradi, owner of the sanctuary, told People. “Animals also have that sense of loss.”
It turns out, it wasn’t just a special relationship he had with Major — Tricycle has been seen mourning for all the animals who pass away.
Most recently an alpaca named Trixie died, and the dog was found laying by her grave.
It’s a beautiful story that shows how real the love between animals can be, and how dogs can have such complex emotions like people do.
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