Pluto lives on

I have never lost an animal. Losing as in sending a beloved pet beyond the Rainbow Bridge to frolic and sniff dog butts for eternity until they meet their humans again.

Just lucky, I guess.

So why have I been crying my eyes out over the passing of a dog that I didn’t even know?

Maybe it’s because our Madison turns 14 tomorrow. It’s a fact that dogs age faster than humans. You can’t protect them from time. But you try.

For now, the dog causing my sadness is Pluto. Not the big goofy Disney pooch. The other Pluto.

The “talking” mini-Schnauzer who gained worldwide fame on YouTube encouraging people to stay calm during the pandemic. An unlikely hero in unprecedented times.

Based in Montreal, Pluto was weirdly lovable. And kind, of course. After all, she was Canadian. And yes, she was a she.

Pluto died Friday. Her death has left the internet – and many hearts, including mine – broken.

After hearing the news, I cried and had to wipe “the watery eyes” (as Pluto would say), not just for me and other dog lovers, but mostly for her two-legged devoted mom, Nancie Wight.

At 15, Pluto wore colorful sweaters and matching socks. She was mostly deaf, blind and had dementia. She loved “snores,” baths, checking “perimeters” and cuddles. She was adorable.

Back in March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pluto made her public debut.

Looking straight into the camera, the wiry, pink-collared pooch, then 13, moved her mouth and spoke in a helium-pitched human voice, digitally altered with some kind of cool software her mom used.

She started each YouTube video with these five words: “Hi, everyone. It’s me, Pluto.”

Then she would tackle a random pandemic-related subject of the day: grooming advice, living without toilet paper, finding snacks when grocery store shelves were empty and staying cheery at home during quarantines.

Her goal: to keep the two-leggeds from losing their minds. Stay calm. Carry on. Don’t panic. We’ll get through this together.

According to her Pluto Living website, she was just “hanging out in The Pluto-verse trying to help us all cope with life during these crazy times … My Mom is unrenowned wildlife photographer NJ Wight. She’s around on the socials, too, but not as popular as me. I actually took over her channel. You snooze, you lose.”

No matter what, Pluto made sure to always be “whooshing love from Canada-lands.”

In fact, one memorable piece of advice was quite useful: “Keep your bum hairs clipped really, really, really short.”

Can’t argue with that.

How did it all start? It was March 18, 2020.

Wight and Pluto had been creating videos together for a long time, but just for friends and family. Then one day, Wight read an article about a guy in Burnaby, British Columbia, who was buying all of the toilet paper in town and selling it on Amazon.

The next thing you know, there was a toilet paper shortage. So, they made a video about it. Friends shared it, and the rest is history.

In those early days, Pluto’s biggest fans were health care professionals, including the doctors and nurses who worked in ERs across the United States and Canada. A lot of them started the day with Pluto – their only comic relief before enduring long hours of caring for so many sick people during the start of COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some of her best Pluto-isms:

• “I’m a girl Pluto … but I don’t really get offended because my gender expression is pretty fluid.”
• “No, I’m not reading a teleprompter. I mean seriously, I can’t read. I’m a dog.”
• “Cat’s aren’t that important,” referring to her nemesis, Neville, a fluffy black feline.
• Her signature closing: “Heads high. Hearts open.”

Over the past two years, Pluto has 105,000 subscribers on YouTube, with 250 videos posted. She has 114,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 4,000 on Twitter. Here’s her Twitter profile:

“I’m a 4-legged speaking out in a 2-legged world. Me and Mom just whooshing love as we pass the time and STAY INSIDE.”

I subscribed to her YouTube channel and eagerly awaited new videos. Her wisecracking laugh got me every time. So silly and so necessary when everything else was so uncertain.

Wight posted Pluto’s final YouTube video on April 28. It has been viewed more than 82,000 times. As of this moment.

“Do you even realize what you all did all these past two and a little bit extra years?” said Pluto in the video. “You created an entire Pluto-verse … How lucky am I that you put me in charge of the most ginormous ball of love that ever whooshed around the earth planet?”

Then Pluto sang Bob Marley’s song “This is Love.”

The next day, Wight posted on the Pluto Living Facebook page that her beloved companion had died.

“Dear, dear friends: My heart is shattered, and these words I need to share are not coming easily. This morning we said goodbye to Pluto and sent her on her next adventure,” wrote Wight.

“Despite her courage and determination at embracing her new normals, life just became too difficult for her. I wasn’t ready at all, but I truly believe she was. She tried to tell me in so many ways these past days. I thought we had more time together. We had more shenanigans planned.”

Thanks, Pluto. It has been really, really, really “amazeballs” getting to know you and The Pluto-verse.

I’ll think of you every time I put on a pair of stretchy “button pants.” Or do a search on the “Mr. Googleys.”

The “new normals” without you will be tough to embrace. You’re such a “trickster,” aren’t you?

Heads high. Hearts open.❤️🐾