Dad Grieving Traumatic Loss of His Best Friend Dog Gets Unexpected Surprise

A man mourning the sudden death of his beloved dog was reduced to tears after his family sprung a heartwarming surprise on him.

The loss of a long-standing family pet isn't just devastating, for some it can quite literally be heartbreaking. In 2017, The New England Journal of Medicine reported on the case of a 61-year-old woman who was taken to the emergency room after suffering severe chest pains.

She was subsequently diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or stress cardiomyopathy, a condition known more colloquially as "broken heart syndrome," which was attributed to the recent death of her dog. Though she was treated with heart medication and eventually recovered, her experience nevertheless highlighted the deep-seated feelings many have for their pets.

It's similar to the way Lillie Fergus and her family, from Nashville, Tennessee, felt about their beloved pug Cujo who came into their lives back in 2010 after her mom answered an online advertisement.

"He was the runt of his litter, and was smaller than a Coke can in his listing photo," she told Newsweek. "The breeders didn't want to let him go because his littermates bullied him and he didn't get to nurse, since he was the runt, so they were bottle-feeding him and babied him. My mom finally convinced them to let us take him home."

But while her mom was eager to make Cujo part of the family, Fergus said her dad was "not totally sold on the idea of getting a dog." That would soon change though.

"Around 2013, my family lived far from my school and mom's job, so my mom and I would stay in an apartment in the city during the week while my dad was at home alone with Cujo, and they really bonded," Fergus said. "My dad works from home most of the time, so he would work with Cujo in his lap and let him sleep in the bed with him."

Cujo and her dad became inseparable. "They were always sitting together at either my dad's desk or in my dad's recliner," she said. "My dad would make Cujo chicken everyday and was the primary person taking him on walks."

That was how things remained until April of this year when Cujo's health suddenly deteriorated rapidly. One day he woke up "coughing up blood." Fergus' dad took him to the vet, assuming he had a bad tooth or had bitten his tongue. Instead, every dog owner's worst nightmare played out.

"My dad called me at work and I knew it probably wasn't good news," Fergus said. "I answered the phone and my dad was crying, and told me that his lungs were filled with tumors and fluid, and he was basically suffocating and probably wasn't going to make it a few more hours."

Cujo was put to sleep an hour later, with Fergus describing it as "the worst day of my life." Though she was able to say goodbye before he passed, Fergus could not contemplate staying in the room as he was put to sleep—but her dad felt otherwise.

"My dad wanted to hold him all the way through," she said. "He held him while the vet administered the final shot. I thought it was symbolic that his favorite person held him while he passed, which I know was a great comfort to him."

Cujo passed away just two weeks shy of his 14th birthday. While the family grieved as one for their much-loved dog, Fergus said her dad took the death harder than everyone else and "would cry everyday."

"I think he felt like it was somehow his fault, the fact that we didn't know he was sick," she said. "It was horrible to watch and I've never seen my dad that depressed about anything."

That's what prompted Fergus' mom to get a puppy. Though she suspects her dad had a "vague idea," his surprised and emotional reaction to his first encounter with Winston, the happy-go-lucky pup, suggests he was still blown away by what unfolded.

Fergus knew her dad's reaction would be a special one, so she was on hand to film it, with the resulting footage posted to TikTok under the username @dietcokecapricorn, where it's already been watched over 8 million times since late April.

"I knew his reaction would be good, but it was so much better than I could've imagined," she said.

In the video, her dad is guided out of the house and directed to the front passenger seat of their car where the pint-size Winston is waiting to meet him. It doesn't take long for him to bond with his new pup, picking up Winston for a cuddle that sparks understandable tears. They are undoubtedly tears for Cujo, the four-legged friend he lost, but also tears of joy for Winston and the opportunity to pour his heart into another dog and make another happy life for him this time.

"Winston is the sweetest boy ever. I see a lot of Cujo's personality in him, but he's also different, which is good because I don't want a clone of Cujo. I want Cujo to live on as his unique self," Fergus said. "I know Cujo is happy to see us happy again."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.