THE DEAD DOG THAT’S A MAN’S BEST FRIEND
He takes her on holidays, dates & walks on the beach
HE TAKES her on holiday, sits next to her at the dinner table and even allows her to join him when he goes on dates. Although many people find it weird, Mitch Byers isn’t ashamed to acknowledge it: he has a special bond with his Jack Russell.
But Phoebe isn’t like other dogs. She doesn’t bark or jump around and never needs to be let outside to pee – because she’s been dead for years.
When his beloved pooch died of natural causes in 2013 Mitch was devastated. Sad to see him so cut up, his mom, Vicki, came up with a novel way to comfort him: she took Phoebe’s body to a taxidermist and had her stuffed.
It cost thousands of dollars but when Vicki saw the expression on her son’s face when he was reunited with his dog she figured it had been worth every cent.
“I instantly cracked up as I knew this is exactly the sort of thing my mom would do,” recalls Mitch (26), a rubber factory manager from Portland, Oregon, in the USA.
“My sister, however, took one look at her and started to bawl her eyes out, which I guess is a better reaction than laughing.”
Now five years after her death Phoebe is still very much part of the family and is included in all kinds of fun activities which Mitch captures on his Instagram account Mydeaddogandme, which now boasts more than 3 500 followers.
The first photo Mitch shared showed a stony-faced Phoebe sitting in the passenger seat of his car. On the window was a note that read, “Don’t worry, the dog is already dead. She’s taxidermied. Please don’t break my window.”
With that one snap the dog became an
instant social media sensation. But while some find Mitch’s loyalty to his dog heartwarming, others think it’s creepy.
“I don’t know how I feel about this. I want to laugh yet I want to cry,” an Instagram user wrote in response to one of Mitch’s posts. “This is so wrong,” another added. But Mitch remains unfazed by the negative comments.
“Who says your best friend can’t be your dead dog? I’m really proud of Phoebe,” he wrote on his Facebook page recently.
His dead pooch is an integral part of his life. For Halloween he dressed her up as a pirate and at Christmas he had her posing as one of Santa’s elves in front of a Christmas tree.
They’ve been on holiday together in Phoenix, Arizona, he takes her on beach walks (even though he has to carry her) and Phoebe even joined him on a dinner date with a fan.
Although Phoebe often attracts bemused, sympathetic and horrified expressions from strangers, Mitch says having a dead dog as a pet has its perks.
Once when he arrived at a bar on the Oregon coast the barman tried to turn him away, saying dogs weren’t permitted, but when Mitch pointed out that Phoebe was dead they were immediately allowed in.
After he’d settled at the bar counter with a cold beer Mitch soon found that Phoebe was a great way of breaking the ice with the other patrons.
“Before I knew it I met lots of pretty cool people and swopped stories about all sorts of things,” Mitch recalls.
“Everyone absolutely loved her. I think I even convinced a few people to taxidermy their own dogs when the time comes.”