A farmer left devasted by the loss of his beloved dog fell to his knees in tears when he was surprised with a puppy after months of hoping for a new farm companion.
Spencer Heafner, from Godfrey, Illinois, was reeling after the loss of his German Shephard, Bailey, who he adopted in 2014.
Bailey had been by Spencer’s side through the birth of his and his wife’s twins – who Bailey always protected – and was always by Spencer’s side to round up cattle on the family’s farm.
Over time, Spencer grew to see Bailey as somewhat of a best friend, only for the German Shepherd to suffer sudden health issues completely out of the blue.
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Bailey’s health started to decline rapidly, and soon she didn’t interact, struggled to see and hear, and had no real quality of life on the farm, Spencer’s wife, Jamie, said.
Just before her 10th birthday, Bailey passed away, leaving Spencer more emotional than Jamie had expected, as he often welled up when looking back through old pictures and videos of his sidekick.
Jamie knew she had to do something – and so she thought back to a previous conversation she had with her husband, when Spencer declared his fondness of blue heeler dogs.
She decided to research the dogs online, and, two months after Bailey’s passing, was able to find a breeder who had a puppy available.
With Spencer’s birthday in June, Jamie decided to plan an early surprise for her husband, which involved him going on an adventure around their farm.
On May 10, Jamie captured Spencer’s search on video, before her husband eventually made it to a box covered in bright wrapping paper.
As the moment hit Spencer, he immediately began to sob tears of joy, before falling to his knees to bold his new farm companion, which Jamie has dubbed a blue “healer.”
Jamie said: “I wasn’t sure if I would make a video of the adventure getting the puppy and presenting it to my husband, but I decided to document the whole thing anyway.
“I knew he’d be emotional over this, so I really wanted to get it on video.
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“The moment he read the card, and I saw him tearing up made me emotional, and I almost stopped recording because of it, but I’m glad I didn’t.
“It played out just as you see in the video I posted.
“I love that I got those moments recorded because I have already watched them repeatedly to relive them and I was definitely crying too.”