Pet Owners Make Mobile Bed for Old Dog for One Last Beach Trip

For his 16-year-old Chesapeake Bay retriever's last months of survival, a dog owner invented a way to carry him across Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Cocoa and Tom

(Photo : Screenshot from WTKR News)

For years, Tom Antonino, who lives in Georgia, traveled to Virginia Beach with his wife and their dog Cocoa. However, at 16 years old, the once-vigorous dog refused to travel a small distance, making the journeys more difficult for the family of three to complete.

Antonino, determined to give Cocoa a regular life in her final days, built a homemade mobile bed that he and his wife could use to move Cocoa around their beloved retreat.

"My wife and I devised a plan to take her for walks using a mechanics creeper and other such things. We'd get her out with a rope and a bed, "He told WTKR, a local news channel.

Related Article: Pets are the New Babies: Pet Industry Thrives During COVID-19 Pandemic

Last Beach Trip

Cocoa was taken out to the Virginia Beach boardwalk to watch the sunset after the pair finished the mobile bed. A woman approached the couple and took a snapshot of them, which she later shared on social media.

However, Antonino, who is not on Facebook, was totally unaware that the boardwalk photo would go viral over time.

"My brother-in-law told me. 'Is this you?' he asked, and then other people asked, 'Is this you?' I replied, 'Yes, that's Cocoa.' Cocoa and I are going for a stroll. "He told WTKR about it.

Antonino's thoughtful gesture for Cocoa was one of the canine's last outings: she died just a few months earlier. However, Antonino told WTKR that his intimate relationship with his beloved dog would last a lifetime.

"The relationship we share with our dogs and cats struck a chord with people," he said. "It's a powerful bond."

Bond Between Dog and Man

(Photo : Helena Lopes)

The association between humans and dogs is known as human-canine bonding. This bond can be dated back at least 15,000 years to a dog buried with two humans in Bonn-Oberkassel. Dogs have been known as "man's best mate" for generations, providing companionship and devotion to their human counterparts.

This is apparent in most households of domesticated dogs. Both breeds of dogs are well-liked by both children and adults.

Dogs in Human Activities

(Photo : Getty Images)

Since the 1970s and 1980s, dogs' use in operations to support humans has been more common. Thanks to their highly evolved sense of scent, dogs have been used for service; testing has found that they can smell terror, distress, and depression. Guide dogs, mobility dogs, and medical warning dogs are also examples of service dogs that support people. Animal-facilitated Therapy is a term used in some hospitals to describe the use of dogs (AFT).

AFT

The use of qualified, licensed animals as part of a medical patient's therapeutic strategy is AFT. For patients with a range of diagnoses, such as cancer, epilepsy alert, and identifying peanut allergies, these programs have been found to foster a healing atmosphere and reduce certain psychiatric symptoms. Ugs, also known as "therapy dogs," are used in hospitals to provide support and affection to patients by pet-assisted therapy.

Pets have become popular in nursing homes and other similar environments due to Dr. Samuel Corson's research.

Also Read: Pet-Friendly Offices To Become a Norm Post-Pandemic, Survey Shows

For more news update about the latest animal trends, don't forget to follow Nature World News