The bond between dogs and humans is unlike any other. When a dog finds its human, life-long loyalty is inevitable.

This is the story of Gunner, an 11-year-old lab, and Daniel Hove, an Air Force veteran.

Daniel and Gunner were best friends. Gunner is never the one to leave his human’s side.

Unfortunately, Daniel was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. While he received enormous support from family and friends, it was his loyal dog who literally stayed by his side throughout the whole ordeal.

The 90-pound dog spends most of his days beside Daniel. They were basically inseparable.

“They were best buddies till the end,” Heather Nicoletti, Daniel’s daughter, told Kare 11. “They were hunting buddies, they went everywhere together.”

The loyal furbaby seemed to feel what his human was feeling too. In fact, when Daniel fell ill, Gunner started showing signs of sickness too.

“When my dad would get agitated, the dog would be agitated. My dad was restless, the dog was restless,” Heather recalled. “My dad was unresponsive, the dog was unresponsive. So once we saw how the dog was doing—he wasn’t moving much anymore, not doing well—we knew it was coming.”

The best of friends tried their best to hold things up. It was until the poor dog grew lethargic with his arms swelling significantly that Heather knew it was time to make the most difficult decision.

She decided that it was time for Gunner to be put down.

“I called the vet clinic I used to work at,” she shared. “They got me in right away and I rushed him up there, put him to sleep. And about an hour and a half later, my dad was gone too.”

Within an hour and a half, both Gunner and Daniel passed away. Who said this only happens in romance movies? They literally refused to live without each other.

As for Heather, as devastated as she was to lose her wonderful father who lived his life as a well-loved human being, Heather found immense comfort knowing that her dad is still with his best friend.

“I had said I don’t know what’s going to be more traumatic for him,” Heather shared. “To try to take him away to end, to put him to sleep, to end his suffering, or if you let him live through dad dying. I think either way it’s going to kill him. We knew they were going to go together. We just didn’t know it was going to be hours apart.”

It was pretty obvious to the people around the duo knew what was going to happen once one of them finally goes, but having things happen just hours apart blew their minds.

“Gunner could not be without my dad,” Heather said. “I think he chose to go with him.”

The connection between dogs and their humans is truly magical, almost out of this world. I believe it’s one of the purest types of love in this world.

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Source: The Animal Rescue Site, Kare 11