Grief does not always announce what it needs. Sometimes we think we need answers. Sometimes we think we need to be left alone. Sometimes we bur
Photo by Veroll Sterling
Grief does not always announce what it needs.
Sometimes we think we need answers. Sometimes we think we need to be left alone. Sometimes we bury ourselves in work, exercise, responsibilities, television, or anything else that can fill the hours when being still hurts too much.
And sometimes, what finds us is a little creature who needs breakfast.
Nigerian content creator **Oreoluwa Osoba**, widely known as **Oga Duke**, has built an enormous audience around his relationship with his Miniature Schnauzer, Duke. Their videos are warm, funny and unmistakably Nigerian. Osoba talks to Duke with the affectionate seriousness of an African father raising a particularly opinionated little son. Duke listens, reacts, offers a paw and occasionally appears to have quite enough of his father’s lectures.
It is easy to watch them and simply smile.
But there is grief underneath this beautiful story.
Osoba has shared that he got Duke in 2023 during one of the lowest periods of his life. He had lost an uncle whom he described as being like a second father to him. He also carried regret because he had repeatedly been too busy to visit. When he finally made plans to go, his uncle died before that visit could happen. Osoba said he carried guilt, anger and isolation afterward.
Then came Duke.
What Osoba initially imagined as caring for a dog became something much larger. Duke needed him. There were meals to serve, walks to take, routines to keep and another living being waiting for him to get up and participate in the day. Osoba has since spoken publicly about how profoundly Duke changed his life, while using their growing platform to encourage responsible pet ownership, animal welfare and conversations about emotional well-being.
There is something here worth sitting with during our own grieving seasons.
Pets cannot erase grief. They cannot replace the person who died, undo what happened, or answer all the questions loss leaves behind. But companionship does not have to solve pain to help us survive it.
An animal can quietly bring rhythm back into a life that has lost its rhythm.
Feed me.
Walk with me.
Sit here.
Come outside.
It’s morning.
I’m glad you’re home.
Those small responsibilities can become gentle anchors. Touch can be comforting. Routine can make an unbearable day feel slightly more navigable. Caring for another living creature can remind us that even while part of our heart is looking backward toward someone we miss, another part of us is still capable of giving and receiving love.
And perhaps that is one reason the story of Oreoluwa and Duke reaches far beyond cute internet videos.
Their relationship became something neither grief nor a social-media strategy could have planned. What began in sorrow grew into companionship, laughter, creativity and community. Their videos now allow strangers around the world to share in something that began privately between one grieving human being and one small dog.
Healing often enters quietly.
It may arrive through people. Through faith. Through therapy. Through rest. Through community. Through meaningful work.
And every once in a while, it walks through the door on four little paws.
**Survivor Affirmation:** *I give myself permission to receive comfort wherever safe, gentle love finds me. Healing does not have to look the way I expected it to look.*
