Last year, Lidia Elizabeth Reyes Cespedes, a dedicated animal rescuer in Chile, took in an elderly stray dog from the streets near her home. She named him Viejito — “Little Old Man” — and promised to care for him until the very end.
“I told him I’m going to give him a decent life for the time he has left,” Cespedes told The Dodo. “I expected him to live 6 months. He lived a year.”
Viejito’s Final Journey
Cespedes, who cares for dozens of dogs at any given time, often strives to find new homes for the animals she rescues. But Viejito never got the chance to experience the warmth of a family to call his own. Instead, Cespedes showered him with love until the very end.
When the time came to say goodbye, Cespedes and a companion traveled into the countryside to find a quiet spot where they could lay Viejito’s body to rest. But as they were about to begin, a sound caught their attention.
A Mysterious Encounter
“I found a tree, beneath which we would bury Viejito,” Cespedes recalled. “Then suddenly, we heard a puppy whimpering. We turned and saw this dog. We were surprised. We looked, and there was no one else around.”
The puppy ran up to Cespedes, looking at her as if she were an old friend. It was an uncanny moment — just as she was bidding a final farewell to Viejito, a young dog appeared, almost as if to answer the sadness of that moment.
As Cespedes dug the hole to bury Viejito, the puppy stayed close by.
“She laid down, calmly observing what we were doing.”
A New Beginning for Nube
When the task was done, the mystery puppy climbed atop the mound where Viejito had been laid to rest.
Cespedes suspected that the puppy might have been recently abandoned in the area, but many of her friends who heard about the encounter felt there was something otherworldly about it.
“Viejito sent you another angel,” one person commented.
As Cespedes and her companion prepared to leave, the puppy perked up, ready to go home with them.
Nube, as she was named, was welcomed into Cespedes’ family of rescue dogs, where she has been well cared for ever since.
“She’s well taken care of with us,” Cespedes said.
Cespedes hopes to find Nube a forever home — something Viejito never had the chance to experience.
Lidia Elizabeth Reyes Cespedes
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