--- description: And breaks the internet's heart title: Thousands Mourn Dog Who Spent His Last Days on a ‘Bucket List’ Adventure image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9339dea0cc741/69885a82e20a8774dba8c3f4/chester.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Thousands Mourn Dog Who Spent His Last Days on a ‘Bucket List’ Adventure  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2015 2:06 PM CUT  Chester before and after he arrived at the shelter. Chester before and after he arrived at the shelter.Animal Ark Rescue  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2015 2:06 PM CUT An elderly, terminally ill rescue dog who was adopted in the final moments of his life, was treated to a “bucket list” of dream doggy activities and was followed by more than 78,000 Facebook fans, has died of cancer. “I am so sad to tell everyone that my sweet baby Chester has left this world,” owner Nicole Elliott wrote on a Facebook page set up to [document](https://www.facebook.com/Chestersbucketlist "undefined") “Chester’s final journey,” including extravagant meals, days at the park and a lot of petting. “I held him until his last breath and then some,” Elliott added. “I told him it was ok to let go, and how loved he was. I know without a doubt Chester died knowing that he mattered.” More than 11,000 Facebook users have replied with their condolences. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/"},"headline":"Thousands Mourn Dog Who Spent His Last Days on a ‘Bucket List’ Adventure","datePublished":"2015-07-11T14:06:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:22:00.259Z","description":"Chester broke the Internet's heart","url":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9339dea0cc741/69885a82e20a8774dba8c3f4/chester.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9339dea0cc741/69885a82e20a8774dba8c3f4/chester.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"chester bucket list dog","caption":"chester bucket list dog","creditText":"Animal Ark Rescue","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/","name":"Thousands Mourn Dog Who Spent His Last Days on a ‘Bucket List’ Adventure"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the Canine Mind","description":"Professor Brian Hare at Duke University studies people's pet dogs to understand how canines think","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dTemQHb7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-09-11T01:23:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dTemQHb7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3954498/chester-bucket-list-dog-dies/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```