“They were best buddies till the end,” Daniel’s daughter, Heather Nicoletti, told Kare 11. “They were hunting buddies, they went everywhere together.”So nobody was surprised, really, that when Daniel lay lying, his loyal dog suddenly fell ill, too.“When my dad would get agitated, the dog would be agitated, my dad was restless, the dog was restless,” his daughter said, remembering how her father and Gunner had always been in sync. “My dad was unresponsive, the dog was unresponsive. So once we saw how the dog was doing–he wasn’t moving much anymore, not doing well– we knew, it was coming.”

One day, as the old dog grew increasingly listless and his arms started swelling, Heather knew it was time, sadly, to put Gunner down. “I called the vet clinic I used to work at,” she said, “they got me in right away and I rushed him up there, put him to sleep. And about an hour and a half later, my dad was gone too.”But as distraught as she was about losing her father — a loving parent, loyal veteran, beloved community member, and a faithful mentor and friend to everyone he met — Heather took comfort in the fact that that her dad, at least, never had to say goodbye to his beloved dog. Such a separation would have been equally harrowing for Gunner, who could never bear to be far away from his best human friend.