A family shared the beautiful moment their 18-year-old dog who has lived quite a life, in the wild, on a farm and now as an indoor family member, finally saw the ocean for the first time and took everything in.
Sarah Ramos, from Boise, Idaho, wanted to capture the special moment for her dog, Chase, as their family have been taking notice of his old age and the time they have left with him.
It was Sarah’s sister, Tiffany, who found Chase on the side of a road, bleeding, having been run over.
Tiffany and her mom, Joleen, nursed Chase back to health, realizing that it was likely he had been a wild dog for his entire life.
The pair had seen one of Chase’s brothers near their farm a few months earlier, thinking they were wolves, and over the year and a half that followed, Joleen comforted a dog who disliked men, ball caps, brooms and the sound of trains.
While Joleen wanted to give Chase a better life, he was also not suitable as a farm dog, Sarah said, so she offered to foster Chase as she moved in with her now-husband, Victor, until he found a permanent home.
But the couple soon fell in love with the Samoyed Husky-golden retriever cross and decided to make him a permanent member of their family.
Over the years that followed, Chase, now a “true North End Boise spoiled dog,” was taken on hikes around the surrounding area – but he had never seen the ocean.
When Sarah and Victor previously headed off on vacation, they would leave Chase with friends, but over the past few years they had decided to start taking him with them and their six-year-old daughter, “never knowing what day will be the last.”
For an upcoming trip, a 10-day stay on the coast of Washington State, the family rented an Airbnb and knew it would be the perfect time for Chase to finally set eyes on the ocean.
On March 14, off the coast of Moclips, Sarah captured the moment as Chase stood by the ocean for the first time, taking everything.
The beautiful moment resonated with people on social media, as the clip soon went viral and received several loving comments, with people saying Chase’s experience had brought them to tears.
Sarah said: “This moment in the video was him taking in the ocean.
“He stood there for a second, just looking out at it, and it felt so special to watch.
“But just as quickly, he turned back around, because, at the end of the day, he doesn’t care where we are; he just wants to be right next to us.
“In this moment, he paused and looked out at the ocean like he was taking it all in.
“It felt really special to watch him just stand there for a second.
“Then, almost just as quickly, he turned right back around and came toward us.
“That’s just who he is – he doesn’t care about anything else as long as he’s close to us.
“We’d take turns carrying him down, then set him on the sand and let him trot around at his own pace.
“The response to the video has been really positive, and there’s a lot of joy in the comments.
“People are saying it gives them hope that a dog his size and breed can live a really long life, especially when they’re given so much love, movement, and good nutrition.”
