Man Explains Why He Let His Dog Smell His Dead Wife’s Body After She Died of Cancer

When Mark Burkholder’s wife died, he knew there was one last goodbye that still needed to happen — not just for him, but for their dog, Olive. As Olive approached his late wife’s body, the intimate moment revealed something many people don’t think about until loss arrives: grief doesn’t stay only with humans.

Burkholder later shared the moment on TikTok, explaining that one of his first thoughts that morning was, “I have to let our dog Olive smell Paige’s body.” What viewers experienced as devastating, he described as a final act of love — a way to help Olive understand what had happened on the worst day of his life.

Before that video existed, Paige Burkholder was known first for her work. She was a teacher who gave everything to her students. Burkholder says she stayed late, listened closely, and tried to meet each student where they were — especially when they were struggling. After she died, he received long letters from former and current students describing how Paige had changed their lives in ways they hadn’t fully understood until they were forced to put it into words.

During Paige’s illness, Burkholder documented parts of their cancer journey, including the daily reality of being her caregiver. He says the point wasn’t to share only milestones or hopeful updates, but to show what filled the long hours in between — the exhausting, ordinary moments cancer takes over.

“Cancer is like trench war,” he says, especially when it’s rare and aggressive. Their goal, he explains, was honesty: to show how profoundly cancer reshapes daily life, identity, and a relationship — and how that kind of openness helps people understand what real support actually looks like.

When Paige died, one detail Burkholder had learned during her illness surfaced immediately. He remembered reading that if pets aren’t allowed to see or smell a loved one after death, they may never understand why that person is suddenly gone.

“I have to let Olive sit with her and smell the reality,” he recalls thinking. Since sharing the video, he says thousands of people have reached out — many echoing the same belief that allowing pets to be present can help them process loss, too.

In the weeks after Paige’s death, Olive’s behavior changed. Burkholder says the dog who once relaxed at the other end of the couch now stays close to him, pressed against his side, following him from room to room.

“I think she’s mirroring my own grief,” he says. Whether Olive is grieving Paige directly or responding to his pain, Burkholder believes the dog is trying to care for him in the only way she knows how.

Before Paige died, the couple talked often about death, memory, and what life afterward might look like. Burkholder says they tried to prepare as best they could — even as those conversations became harder with exhaustion and time running out.

“We did our best with an impossible challenge,” he says.

As the video reached more people, many viewers said it helped them understand animal grief in a new way. Burkholder hopes it also leaves a wider lesson: that honesty about cancer and dying matters.

“Radical honesty in cancer and dying matters,” he says, because openness creates connection — and reminds people how many others have carried similar pain. That awareness, he adds, can reshape the way we treat everyday frustrations, making small problems feel smaller in the shadow of what truly matters.

Now, as he learns how to live without Paige, Burkholder says the most meaningful support hasn’t come in the loudest moments. It’s come later — during the quiet stretches when grief sits heaviest and the world seems to have moved on.

“The people who continue checking in after the big moments pass are the ones I value most,” he says. Small, consistent acts of care, he adds, are what truly help someone survive loss.