Cletus The Service Dog Walks Across The Stage To Receive Diploma In Place Of His Owner Who Died Of Epilepsy Just Months Before Graduating
POCATELLO, Idaho – Commencement is always a special time, but for one family, Saturday’s Idaho State University graduation ceremony was especially meaningful. Their son was not there to receive the degree he worked so hard for. Instead, his faithful service dog walked in his place. More than 2,000 graduates were celebrating their hard work of years, energy and sacrifice. Among all the feet were some paws that stood out. Cletus, a black pit bull, would have been at graduation anyway this year. “I’ll be honest,” said Joshua Kelly’s father, Terrell. “I was one of them that was giving (pit bulls) a bad rep until I met Cletus. And he allows our little grandchildren to climb on him, pull his ears, pull his tail. He’s just great.” But the person Cletus is missing is the one he was trained to help. “Josh had epilepsy,” his father said. “This was Josh’s last semester. He was taking his final two classes when he ended up in intensive care in February.” Joshua Kelly passed away Feb. 13.
You can watch the video by clicking here since it’s not embeddable. I highly recommend watching it.
Well I’m not even really a human anymore, I’m just a puddle of tears sitting in a chair after watching that. Talk about a great story but also one of the saddest I’ve ever come upon. Joshua Kelly had epilepsy and was in his final semester before he graduates, but then in February he has a seizure on the side of the road, is protected by his pitbull Cletus until the paramedics get there. Josh passes away on February 13, just three months before graduation. So instead of Josh walking across the stage to receive his diploma, it’s his loyal service dog Cletus walking to receive it. If we’ve said it one we’ve said it a million times here at Barstool but dogs are the best. There’s nothing that comes close to the relationship a person has with their dog and this is just another example. Unreal stuff.
h/t mike