Grieving Dog Goes to Master's Funeral, Looks Inside Casket in Farewell

A dog achieved closure by attending her master's funeral.
A dog pays tribute to his dead master.Elements Cremation, Pre-planning & Burial

Sadie, a 13-year-old mutt, grieved over her owner's death and went to his funeral.

Sadie, a 13-year-old mutt with a little bit of border collie and little bit of Dalmation, was inconsolable after the sudden death of her beloved master, who was felled by a heart attack. 

After the paramedics stopped working on him, Sadie kept nudging his hand, as if she wanted to be petted. 

Then she stopped eating. She lay listless on the floor, perking up only in the afternoon, the time when Andy Beaulieu usually came walking through the door after work. She lost 10 pounds in 10 days.

Beaulieu's wife, Julia, became very worried. When she sat down to make service arrangements with funeral director Jeremy May in Langley, British Columbia, it seemed only natural that Sadie should be among the mourners. 

When Julia arrived at funeral with Sadie on a leash, the mood in the room immediately changed, May told InsideEdition.com Tuesday. 

"It was unbelievably powerful," he said. "The people there paying their respects ... everyone knew that Sadie was his best companion, after his wife." 

Sadie walked up to the casket with Julia, then jumped up and put her paws on the coffin. She leaned in to look at Andy's remains and sniffed.

She appeared to realize her master was gone after that sniff, May said. Then she hopped down and walked out of the room.

May used his cellphone to capture an image of Sadie peering into the casket and later posted it on the Facebook page of his company, Elements Cremation, Pre-planning & Burial. He has received responses from all over, he said.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the house," he said of the Beaulieu service. After Sadie went home, she immediately ate two meals, May said. Her spirits lifted. She seemed, in an overused word of society today, to have found "closure."

May gave the photo he took of Sadie to Julia. "The photo has given her great comfort and joy," he said. 

RELATED STORIES