Although we like to think of animals as different or less complex than humans, the truth is we understand very little about them. Who knows what it’s actually like to be a cat or a dog? Their minds seem to be just as complex and multi-faceted as ours are, even if we can’t get inside their heads. While one of the biggest projects in a human life is to get along with all different kinds of people, animals sometimes form incredible relationships with other kinds of animals as well.
One story of the enduring friendship between a dog named Barlow and his rat friends shows just how strong these bonds can be.
It all started when the McKenzie family adopted Barlow the dog off of death row at an animal shelter.
According to the Dodo, Lisa McKenzie said that he gelled in their home immediately. “He fit into our family so well,” she said. Several months after that, a teacher at the McKenzie’s kid’s school adopted a rat who ended up being pregnant. The teacher asked the McKenzies if they might take in the rat babies.
The family agreed to do so and named the little guys Chippy, Dewey and Mud Truck.
Although the family was concerned that Barlow and the rats might not get along, they soon got used to one another.
Of the three rats, Chippy was unique in being born with no hair whatsoever. He also differed from the other two in that he quickly developed a close friendship with Barlow. Though the two grew very close, rats have much shorter lifespans than dogs do. After only two years, Dewey was the first of the rats to die of old age. Next came Mud Truck.
Still, Chippy lived on and stayed friends with Barlow.
Eventually, Chippy’s health began to fail him.
Despite the normal life expectancy for rats, Chippy seemed to live longer than normal as a result of Barlow’s love. The two would often cuddle together and Liza said that this “touch therapy” truly helped Chippy in his direst hours. Despite everyone’s best efforts, Chippy eventually passed away as well.
Still, the McKenzie family wanted to preserve Barlow’s relationship with the rats as much as possible.
To do this, the family took Barlow with them when they buried he rats in the backyard so that he would know where his friends were.
As it turns out, their idea worked. In the days after Chippy’s burial, Barlow could be seen in the backyard resting by his friend’s grave and paying his final respects. For her part, Liza said that having Barlow experience his grief like a human would was helpful for everyone involved:
“I think being able to process Chippy’s death in a way he could understand, smelling and licking Chippy’s body, helped him to move through what humans call grief more quickly. I feel more at peace knowing that Barlow understands exactly where his friend is and what happened to him . . . He was a special little guy. We miss him every day.”
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