There were always dogs running around Katie Ekin’s house. At one point, they had four rescue dogs living under one roof. Chandler, a terrier mix rescue dog that they took in when he was 6 months old, was the smallest of the group.
Chandler was a bit of a boss, even though he was small. Katie, 33, says that despite that, he was very sweet and would melt in your arms. So it wasn’t a surprise to her that Chandler and her dad, Gary, 70, became close over the years.
“My favorite memory is how Chandler showed up for my dogs constantly,” Katie adds. “When they were younger, they played a lot. My dog Mowgli got sick, and Chandler wouldn’t leave his side.” They were always curled up together. He was such a comfort.”
Chandler, 17, had to wear a diaper all the time and is now incontinent. His family, who lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., just recently noticed this. Their vets thought he might have a brain tumor because he walked around in a circle to the left a lot. Besides that, he slept more and ate less.
The family finally made the hard choice to put Chandler to sleep after talking about it and getting advice from their vet. Katie saw her dad enjoying every moment with Chandler in the days before they said goodbye for good. Several times during the week, she found him curled up in a ball on the floor next to their beloved dog.
“With his recent health changes, Chandler had been getting pretty restless,” Katie adds. We kept him cozy on his floor bed because we were afraid he would fall off the bed if we left him there. If he thought we were going to pet him, he would usually get up and walk away.
“But when my dad would go in and lay with him, he stayed asleep and seemed so peaceful — like he was soaking up the moments the same as my dad,” she says.
Katie had written down everything about her rescue dog’s death a year before as a way to deal with her sadness. She chose to do the same thing for her dad.
Katie didn’t really think about it before she posted the video on TikTok, even though it was meant to help her dad deal with his loss. She didn’t think many people would see it. She couldn’t say a word when the video went popular and got more than 7 million views and almost 6,000 comments.
“You’re in such a haze when you’re pre-grieving, and I wanted my dad to be able to have what I did — to look back at those special moments with Chandler at a time when I knew he would need it most.”
“Every single comment was encouraging, and that meant a lot to us,” the singer-songwriter says. “So many people left such kind comments or told their own stories of losing pets and grieving for them.” It touched and reached a lot more people than we thought possible.
“The best response came from someone who said, “Someone once told me that time moves faster in heaven.” “That when your pet turns around, you’ll be right there with them,” she adds. “It brought tears to our eyes instantly.”
The family got together one last time with Chandler in the morning of May 6. Katie says that she thought Chandler wanted them to know he was ready at that moment.
“He had been a little antsy for a week, but on his last morning, he just walked into my room.” He curled up close and fell asleep after I put him on the bed. Everyone in my family sat with him for hours before we took him for one last walk.
“We have an incredible community of family and friends, many of whom came by the week before to visit with Chandler and say their goodbyes,” she says. “It was so special to see the way he touched so many of our loved ones’ lives over the years — and that was just Chandler, he made you fall in love with him.”
