A photo showing ‘an old dog’s last ride’ has tugged on the heartstrings of thousands of social media users.
Libra, an elderly pooch from Florida, featured in a photo taken shortly before she died back in 2013 that was recently posted on Reddit by one of her owners using the username ewhippieyoustink2.
The photo shows the 15-year-old dog lifting her head just to the edge of a lowered window inside a car, seemingly taking in the fresh air with her eyes closed.
Libra is certainly showing her age in the photo, with fine wrinkles around her snout and graying fur all over her frail body.
In a comment below the post, Libra’s owner explained that the poor pup had become very sick with frequent seizures and lost the ability to control her bladder. So, the family eventually made the hard decision to end her life.
‘She was about 15 years old and I’ve had her since I was a kid,’ read the post. ‘She started getting very sick.
‘Libra was ready to go, so we helped her. She was so peaceful and happy and the picture makes me feel better about not having her around anymore.’
‘She was our baby and this was the hardest thing,’ another of Libra’s owners, Nicole Alderman, added on Imgur.
The photo, which has about 300,000 views on Imgur so far, was then posted on Reddit, where several other dog owners offered condolences and reminisced about their own departed dogs.
Most, however, simply expressed how the one line and the image made them feel incredibly sad.
‘This is the saddest thing,’ wrote one Reddit user. ‘Leaving the internet now to snuggle my dogs.’
‘You just ripped my heart into a million pieces,’ wrote another.
Libra appeared to be a mixed-breed pooch with a beautiful heart-shaped nose and a dark patch of fur over one eye – and was obviously well-loved by her family .
Sadly the image was initially removed by Reddit administrators as the subreddit it was posted in upheld a ban on sadness, but the story was still able to reach thousands of sympathizers.
One commentor told his own story about losing his golden Labrador Suzy, recalling the day he had to put her down, saying he ‘cried myself asleep that night with my girlfriend saying to her “but she was my dog”‘.
He added to the original poster: ‘I loved that dog and you loved yours… and it’s warming to see that I’m not the only man who had a “man’s best friend”.’
Another grieving dog owner added on Imgur: ‘My old girls last ride was July 29th, 2015… she loved car rides as well, the way the wind hit her snout, sorry for the loss of your ole mate.’
