A woman was left stunned when her daughter surprised her with a plush lookalike of her beloved dog which passed away – as it was so lifelike she thought it was a real dog.
Sandy Miller had recently lost Miracle – or Meep, as the family called her – at age 11 from cancer and so Sandy’s daughter Holly Miller knew she needed cheering up.
While scanning the Internet one day Holly discovered a company called Petsies, who makes it possible to recreate a pet as a stuffed animal by submitting photographs to them online.
After sending some pictures of Meep, Holly heard back from Petsies who asked for extra images to help make the plush even more realistic.
Meep before his illness
Soon Holly received stuffed animal Meep and was so blown away by its likeness, she wanted to capture her mom’s reaction as she knew it would be a surprising but emotional moment.
Holly sat plushie Meep by the front door of her mom’s house in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and invited Sandy out to see who was waiting for her.
As soon as Sandy looks around the corner her mouth drops wide open in shock saying ‘hello’ to the dog thinking it will move, before telling Holly ‘it looks like Meep’.
She approaches the dog and pets it on the head and turns it around, jumping back in shock at how much it looks just like Meep.
After picking up the custom stuffed animal, Holly asks ‘you like her?’ to which Sandy emotionally replies ‘I love her.’
The real Meep 
Stuffed animal lookalike Meep from Petsies
Holly said: “I didn’t think it would take so long to realize it was a stuffed animal, she thought it was real, I thought she would be emotional but it ended up being quite funny.
“Only at the end did she realize it was a plushie, and then looked at the dog for a while and couldn’t get over how realistic it was to our dog and was floored.
“She kept saying ‘gosh’ over and over again and couldn’t get over how much it looks like Meep.
“She loves it, she sits him in a chair and has put Meep’s collar around its neck. It looks a lot like Meep, about 90-95% just like meep, even the fur.
“It’s especially meaningful for people who no longer have your pet as it restores the memory of having the pet.”
Story courtesy of T&T Creative Media