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There’s no remedy that can heal a person’s heart after they lose their beloved pet. Considering they are literally part of the family, losing a pet can feel like you’re losing a piece of yourself. 

That seemed to be the case for one man in particular, who had been walking around his neighborhood with an empty dog leash. In a TikTok video, a dog trainer named Jerri Scherff noticed the man in her neighborhood and decided to ask him about the leash, but was not expecting his sad admission about why he has this ritual in the first place.

A dog trainer sobbed after learning that her neighbor walks with an empty leash every morning after losing his beloved dog.

In Scherff’s video, she recorded a man in her neighborhood who every single morning would take a walk around the block while holding an empty leash. Finally, she pulled over and asked him about it, not expecting the answer he gave her.

“I said, ‘Can I ask you something?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘Did you lose your dog?'” Scherff asked her neighbor. When he nodded, Scherff immediately confided that she had lost her dog recently too. Then, the two hugged.

Her neighbor explained that people always make fun of him for walking around the neighborhood with the leash dangling, but he does it because he misses his dog so much. 

Grief and healing from loss look different for everyone. That means coping is not a one-size-fits-all process. Scherff’s neighbor chose to continue going on walks with the leash, as if his dog were still there, and it clearly brought him comfort.  

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Grief over a pet is often just as strong as grief over a family member passing.

A survey published in the academic journal PLOS One found that people grieving the loss of a pet can suffer from prolonged grief disorder (PGD), the mental health condition brought about by the death of a loved one. It often lasts months or even years and can involve intense longing and despair. It can even impact completing daily tasks.

Hryshchyshen Serhii | Shutterstock

It truly feels like an important part of yourself is missing. The research found that 7.5% of people who had lost pets were suffering from PGD, about the same number of people who had a close friend pass. It was slightly behind the proportion who had PGD after the death of a close family member

Allowing people to cope however they see fit after losing a pet is simply their own journey. We really shouldn’t be passing judgment on the way people choose to deal with something that painful. At the end of the day, what might look confusing to someone else is how that person is trying to hold themselves together.

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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.