Sister gifts heartfelt photo album of dog to share with sibling in dog's final days
When Shelby and Savannah Parks' golden retriever, Boomer, fell ill late last year, Shelby gifted her sister a lasting memory with her cherished pet.
As seen in a viral TikTok video, which has garnered over 4.5 million views and close to half of a million likes, Shelby is seen presenting her sister with a photo album of Boomer, while she was comforting the sick pet.
Shelby explained in a separate video that the photo album consisted of a combination of photos from an Instagram account which featured photos of Boomer celebrating obscure holidays like Spaghetti Day and Bubble Bath Day.
"We've had so much fun together," said Shelby in the video. "Nine-and-a-half years is just not nearly enough."
Speaking with "Good Morning America" Shelby said, "I just really wanted to have that last Christmas with him, and her to be able to open that book while he was still here because I knew how much harder that would be without him."
The sisters said Boomer will always carry a special place in their hearts.
"We got him when I was a freshman in high school," said Shelby. "He's been with me through the hardest years of life and he was actually our family divorce dog."
"The minute you met him, you just like had to fall in love with him," she said.
Shelby said Boomer even came with her to college and became quick friends with her college friends. "He was everyone's dog."
Parks said after a diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer, the disease spread quickly over two weeks.
"You see in that video, he looks so sad," said Shelby.
Thoughts and prayers came by the plenty following the video being posted, the sisters said.
"I just felt like so many people were praying for him and he really had like a spark of energy and like the best next two days," she said.
Boomer was able to spend a final Christmaswith his family before dying two days later.
Savannah said that she felt the video -- while sad -- created a sense of community for people who have suffered a similar loss.
"I was reading through the comments and… people, like kinda got comfort from that video too," said Savannah.
"People relating to that pending pain was like, just such a great resource in the time and still now honestly," said Savannah.
