Former soldier Daniel Hove and his dog Gunner died in just one hour. This is their touching story.
Daniel was a soldier for the US Air Force, then worked for the fire brigade, so he was surrounded by danger all his life.
But there was one danger he could not defend himself against either way: He received the devastating diagnosis, pancreatic cancer.
The disease was to spread rapidly and his health was to deteriorate enormously.
His family was always by Daniel’s side through it all. His dog Gunner was the one who stayed by his best friend’s side the most.
The 11-year-old Labrador retriever did not leave Daniel’s side since he became ill and stayed as close to him as possible. This went so far that the family put a bed next to Daniel’s so that Gunner could always be with him.
When Daniel, who had cancer, was in the final stages of his illness, the Labrador suddenly fell ill too.
One day they noticed that Gunner was moving very little and everyone felt that the moment was near when the Labrador would die.
Daniel’s daughter Heather told local media that the family had to make a decision with a heavy heart and put Gunner down, as they and the vet knew the Labrador would not survive the death of his best friend.
“When my dad was agitated he was agitated, when my dad was agitated he was agitated, when my dad wasn’t responding he wasn’t responding.”
Shortly after Labrador Gunner went to doggie heaven, Daniel’s family was shocked to discover that his cancer-stricken master had also stopped breathing.
So the best friends were only separated for about an hour. For Heather, it is comforting to know that her father did not have to deal with the death of his best friend
“I had always wondered which would be more painful for Gunner, whether his suffering would be ended by being put to sleep or whether the grief of Dad’s death would kill him. We knew that in the end they would go together, but never expected it to be just an hour.
Gunner couldn’t live without Dad.”
What a heartbreaking story. It is very comforting to know that the two best friends are together even after death.
Source/Heather Nicoletti