BELLA’S TRIP OF A LIFETIME
Robert is taking his cancer-stricken dog on an incredible journey to make the most of her final days and as a way of dealing with his grief
By PIETER VAN ZYL
HE’S HAD his share of heartache over the past decade – he lost his brother in the war in Iraq in 2007 and his eldest sister died in a car crash two years ago. So when his beloved dog, Bella, was diagnosed with cancer it was almost too much to bear.
Tears streaming down his face, Robert Kugler posted a heartrending video on Facebook. “Bella’s shoulder injury is actually cancer,” he said. “The doctor has given her six months to live. It’s best for her to get rid of that leg. She’s so happy at the moment. But I think she would be happier if we could take that pain away.”
Behind Robert, a veteran US soldier and actor, his nine-year-old chocolatebrown Labrador rolled around on the lawn, oblivious to the drama.
Then there’s video material of Bella coming out of the operating theatre on three legs. “Hello, baby girl. It’s okay. You look beautiful,” he says as the lyrics to the Bruno Mars song Just The Way You Are are heard in the background: “She’s so beautiful. And I tell her every day.”
Robert (33), who’s from Lincoln, Nebraska, decided he couldn’t just go home and wait for the end of his companion’s life – instead he would take her on an epic bucket-list trip and make the most of the time they had left together.
“We’re going to have an unbelievable last few months together,” he declared. “When you see lives end shortly before people get to do many of the things they dream of doing, it changes your perspective on life. I feel like right now this is my purpose. The chapter in my life right now is just exploring with my dog.”
So they’re travelling the length and breadth of America, making new friends, staying with old ones and camping in their car. And Bella’s having a ball.
Every day Robert takes beautiful photographs and posts them on the web: shots of Bella in the surf, napping in their SUV, watching a sunrise, chest-deep in snow and joyously leaning out a car window, ears flapping in the wind. Talk about a dog’s life!
At the time of going to print Robert and Bella had more than 100 000 followers on Instagram. “Tell me,” he captioned a picture taken in Naples, Florida, “is there any better way to start the morning than enjoying the birth of a new day with someone you love next to you?”
THE road trip isn’t just about Bella, though. Robert is hoping the journey will help him fight his own demons. “I battle daily with chronic depression and suicidal ideation [thoughts],” he writes in his blog, My Personal “Coming Out” Story. “What I am doing, being with my dog and exploring life together, is saving my life. I share so often because I hope to inspire others to see this world for what it truly is and give faith that life is indeed worth living, especially to those who think otherwise.”
He recounts what the spiritual writer Eckhart Tolle wrote in his book Guardians Of Being: “The vital function that pets fulfil in this world hasn’t been recognised. They keep millions of people sane.’’ There are also a well-known cartoon by US artist Patrick McDonnell in which a dog tells its owner, “Heal!”
“Through focusing on serving Bella during her last months, I will continue to serve myself by being my best self,”