A Las Vegas mom is going viral after sharing the heartbreaking moment her family dog smelled her late daughter’s belongings for the first time.
Lauren Taylor filmed Bella, a Maltese and Yorkshire terrier cross, nosing through some of the last things Ariana wore—some folded neatly, others sealed in plastic baggies to preserve the scent that still feels closest to her.
Every so often, Lauren, who is also mom to daughter Kyra, 4, and their newborn son, Callan James, 4 months old, with husband Jason, opens the box of Ariana’s possessions to smell them.
“I thought it was only fair to give Bella the same opportunity,” Lauren, 39, told Newsweek.
Ariana, Lauren said, was defined by determination. Despite profound medical challenges, she was alert, observant and deeply engaged with the world around her.
She loved swimming, planetariums, train rides, sushi, and dairy-free ice cream, as well as dancing with her parents, being in the ocean, princess parties and rides.
Ariana passed away unexpectedly while the family was on vacation in Florida. As soon as they returned to Nevada, Lauren unpacked Ariana’s belongings and placed them into a single box, hoping to discover something she hadn’t noticed before. Some new fragment of her daughter that might have escaped her the last time.
Before leaving for vacation, Ariana was sick on her blanket and pillow. Lauren woke up early that morning to wash everything—her bedding, pillowcase, sheets—wanting her room to be clean and perfect for her return. Ariana never came home.
Now, Bella lays on Ariana’s bed for over 12 hours a day since Ariana passed. “She misses her best friend and sister,” Lauren said, describing the two as soulmates. “Smell has such a strong sense of memory.”
Lauren shared a footage of this in another reel on Instagram. One commenter wrote, “I have a little soul dog too who rides in my chair. All dogs go to heaven and she will be running to meet your little girl.”
Ariana was born extremely early, at 26 weeks, and spent 117 days in the NICU. During that time, the nurses would return Ariana’s worn clothes and burp cloths in green drawstring bags.
At home, Bella learned to recognize them. As she worked through the items, she paused after the first, letting out what Lauren recognized as a stress yawn.
Bella and Ariana were best friends. Though known to snap at nearly everyone else in the family, she never once turned on Ariana. She tolerated accidental kicks, sudden movements and arms flung around her neck.
“Bella would also bark at people if they were to get too close to Ari,” Lauren said.
Lauren and Jason are now parenting through unimaginable absence while caring for Kyra and Callan James, who was born after Ariana’s death.
Lauren’s reel, shared to the Ariana Rye Foundation Instagram account (@arianaryefoundation), has gone viral, amassing over 367,000 views. Messages of condolences from other users filled the comments section.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, it’s touching that you allow Bella to be part of the grieving process with you,” one user wrote.
“Thank you for including her. Pets deserve closure too,” another wrote.
Lauren grieves for her daughter every day. She reads books about the afterlife. She asks Ariana to visit her in dreams.
“I miss her so much,” she said.
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