Woman Stays Overnight at Shelter to Comfort Dying Dog
“I told him he was loved — that his life had meaning.”
When Janine Guido first met Watson, she saw the whole story in his eyes.
“The first thing I noticed was how tired he looked,” said Guido, founder of Speranza Animal Rescue. “It felt like he’d been fighting for so long and was ready to let go.”
Watson had been taken to an emergency veterinary clinic after a college student found him alone in a Philadelphia park. He was dangerously thin, covered in infected sores, and burdened by a large cancerous tumor on his hind leg. Despite round-the-clock care, the disease had spread too far.
By the time he was transferred to the rescue, treatment wasn’t what he needed most — comfort was. Guido sensed he didn’t have much time.
“I had a feeling he wouldn’t make it through the next day,” she said. “I couldn’t bear the thought of him spending the night alone, not when he needed someone by his side the most.”
That Wednesday evening, Guido gathered blankets and dog beds, making a soft place for them in the shelter’s laundry room. She lay beside Watson, wrapped her arms around him, and spoke to him in a calm voice.
He drifted off quickly, pressed close against her, and she stayed there all night.
“He slept so peacefully, cuddled right up to me,” Guido said. “I cried myself to sleep, and when I woke up, I was still crying.”
For perhaps the first time in years — maybe ever — Watson slept without fear or pain, held in love.
By morning, his strength had faded. He refused food and water, paced briefly, and then passed away quietly.
Though their time together was short, he left a lasting mark on Guido’s heart.
“I’m so grateful I could be there for him, to hold him on his last night,” she said. “I told him he was loved, that his life mattered. My heart is breaking, but I wouldn’t change a thing.”
