There’s a reason why losing a dog cuts us so deeply – just ask Meghan Markle
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MEGHAN MARKLE is in mourning for her dog Guy. And when she paid an emotional tribute to her rescue beagle on Instagram this week, she spoke for millions of us who still miss our own dogs. It is a simple and emotionally devastating little film. We see Guy when he was a young puppy, given a home by a young, single actress in 2015.
![[Meghan Markle petting her rescue beagle.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/duchess-sussex-guy-beagle-former-553351140_3ad31d.jpg?strip=all&w=716)
And we see him grow and become part of a family. With Meghan’s husband Harry. With her small children. In the car. On the beach. Pottering about the house. In the arms of the family who love him, and totally a part of that family. We see him growing old.
![[Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hugging their dog.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/meghan-markle-video-dead-dog-962348975.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Guy could have been your dog. He could have been mine. And how fast it flies, the lifetime of a dog. How heartbreakingly quick it goes. Guy was nine when he died — a senior dog, but you always hope for double figures. Stan, our Cavalier King Charles spaniel who died in May, was 12 — a good age for any dog.
![[Woman and child sitting on a blanket in a park with three dogs.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/www-thesun-co-uk-royals-963060284.jpg?strip=all&w=791)
But 12 was still too soon. Whatever age they go, it will always be too soon. Because when your dog dies, you finally understand the true meaning of grief. No matter how much they love us, we grow away from our parents. And no matter how much we love them, our children grow away from us.
![[A man and a young child walk a dog on a leash near a fence with animals.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/instagram-meghan-picture-08-01-962334516.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But a dog is as close on that tear-stained last day as when they came home as a puppy, when laughter was everywhere. There is a purity about our bond with dogs because their love is so unconditional. My friend Fred always says that if he locked his wife and his dog in the boot of his car and then came back after four hours, only one of them would be pleased to see him.
![[Meghan Markle cuddling with her dogs.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/www-thesun-co-uk-royals-963060285.jpg?strip=all&w=678)
