I didn’t think I’d break down like that—especially not in front of everyone. But the moment Rex, my uncle’s old K9 partner, leapt onto the casket, it was like something inside me cracked open.

Uncle Mateo was as tough as they come—a combat veteran who did two tours and came back home with Rex, this jet-black German Shepherd who’d saved his life more than once. From then on, they were a package deal. Even after the military, they stayed side by side, working search and rescue together for five more years. When Uncle Mateo died suddenly from a heart condition, we all knew Rex would be devastated—but none of us were ready for what we actually saw.