Dog's 'Special Bond' With His 'Grandma' Led Him Right To Her Grave After She Passed, Even Though He'd Never Been There Before
The dog's special bond seemed to transform into a sort of sixth sense, and there may be a scientific reason why.
@sorayalikemariah / TikTok There's nothing quite like the bond between a dog and its human family. But does a dog's special bond even extend beyond the end of someone's life?
If one woman on TikTok is to believed, it sure seems like it does — and there's even a handful of scientific reasons to believe it might true, too.
A woman says her dog's special bond with her mom, his 'grandma,' led him right to her grave.
Dogs are, of course, famous for their keen senses, but animal lover and TikToker Soraya's (@sorayalikemariah) video of her and her dog's visit to the cemetery where her mother was recently laid to rest, makes it seem like our canine friends' senses are on a whole other level.
Soraya's mother recently passed away from cancer, and she says she and her dog had a very "special bond." When she recently took him to the cemetery for the first time shortly after her mother's burial, he seemed to know exactly where his "grandma" was, even though he'd never been there before.
"This is his first time visiting her and I let him roam free, asking 'where's Grandma?'" Soraya wrote in onscreen text. What happened next was nothing short of fascinating.
Her little dog kept running ahead, then stopping and waiting for Soraya, as if "he kept hearing someone calling him and wanted me to follow him." She noted that there was nobody else was in sight at the cemetery, so her dog couldn't have been responding to anyone else.
Photo: @sorayalikemariah / TikTok
Even though her mother's grave was not yet marked, her dog found his way right to her.
Her mother's death was so recent that they hadn't even put a marker or headstone on her grave yet and, as the video shows, they were mostly walking through what looks like a barren field. But even though there was "no way he can see where she is," sure enough, her little dog found his grandma, leading her right to the grave.
Soraya wrote in her video that her "heart dropped" when her dog found the "exact spot" where her mother is buried, but the dog seemed overjoyed to be there.
He immediately began jumping and rolling in the grass where his grandma was buried, as if overjoyed to see her again. Soraya noticed that he was even careful to not step on her grave, jumping over and running around it instead.
Photo: @sorayalikemariah / TikTok
Dogs are well known to mourn humans when they die. Veterinarians say that dogs' eating and sleeping habits will often change after the death of their human, and they may decline to play and seem to become depressed, just like grieving humans.
But do they also sense the presence of their dead loved ones after they've passed? It may sound absurd, depending on your sensibilities, but it turns out the scientific consensus is a lot more "who can say?" than "absolutely not."
Dogs are known to have a sort of 'sixth sense' — it's a vital part of a dog's special bond with humans, in fact.
It's not exactly surprising that the science on this is inconclusive — it's not like you can ask sit a dog down and ask him or her a battery of questions about the paranormal, after all. But according to the American Kennel Club, dogs are known to have a sort of 'gut feeling' about things, including death and dying.
They often sense death, both in other dogs and in humans, long before it actually happens. Their keen senses, especially their sense of smell, allow them to pick up on physical, hormonal, and odor-based clues that portend death, and which are way beyond our human abilities.
So is it really that far-fetched that they could have some kind of sense of their deceased loved one's presence?
As the American Kennel Club puts it, "Despite the fact that there is no scientific proof that dogs can see ghosts, so much of animal behavior is uncertain that the possibilities of a dog sensing something a human can’t is not out of the question." So, you're saying there's a chance?
Of course, there's no scientific proof that anyone can see spirits or ghosts, or that such things even exist, and a 2021 survey revealed that the vast majority of people don't even believe in them. (Those people are wrong, but that's the subject of a different article!)
Still, as certified dog trainer and behavior consultant Russell Hartstein put it to the AKC, "The most interesting part of the science of dog behavior and understanding is that we simply don’t know so much." So, I am convinced that little dog actually knew where his grandma was and I'll go to my grave believing it — no pun intended, of course.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.