This Guy Didn't Know How Long His Puppy Had To Live So He Filmed Her Every Day

Dave Meinert made a beautiful film of his dog Pegasus as she grew up.

This video has gone hugely viral in the last week.

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It was made by Dave Meinert, 34, a film-maker from South Africa, and it stars Pegasus.

Dave Meinert

Meinert rescued her from backyard breeders when she was a puppy.

He told BuzzFeed: "Most of her siblings died or were deformed. I’ll never know what was wrong."

Dave Meinert / Via vimeo.com

He said: "She saw seven vets in the beginning. She’s just a dog that's always sick and always, always happy."

He told us he chose to make the video because "I am a film-maker obsessed with finding new ways of shooting things, and I love animals, and this story presented itself because, well, she was my dog." Previously he's made "the first music video shot by a dog" – the first GoPro mounted dog piece – to "prove to a friend I did a good job of looking after his dog."

He says: "I’d had a Great Dane in the family and was in love with the breed."

Dave Meinert

"When I saw a picture of her my heart melted. I knew what I was getting into, that she would be potentially very sick. Besides scooping up serious results from constant stomach problems and waiting at the vet, things were OK."

Since making the video, Meinert says Pegasus is "OK", but "she gets sick often – she’s just like the sickly kid in class always coughing, sneezing, allergic to this and that."

Dave Meinert

"She goes from manageable problem to manageable problem," he adds.

Sadly, Meinert and Pegasus don't live together any more. In an update on one of his channels, he writes: "Subsequent to making the video, I had to travel a lot, and struggled with keeping her where I was living. A saviour stepped in and helped look after Pegs while I tried to make a plan and she moved back and forth, which was disruptive for her."

He says that it was "obvious that her new set up with incredible love, a bigger garden and a new best friend in Luna, another Great Dane was more than I could offer. I am lucky that I get to visit and take her for short periods, and maybe that's why in my heart she's still with me."

"If the dog is happier, do you forsake your happiness? I think yes," he says.

He told BuzzFeed: "I wanted to make something that wasn’t in your face, ‘hey you must adopt’ or ‘hey do this or that’".

Dave Meinert

He says: "You can do what you want. This is my story. This is something that happened in a space and time. That’s it, watch it, feel something, shout about a cause if you want to, or don’t. I think there’s enough judging and opinions out there, last time I checked."

He tells us Pegasus is "incredibly happy". He says: "She is part of a family that, if I get over my ego I can admit, offers her more than I ever could – a huge garden, a best friend in another dane and lots of love. It’s been a team effort. In return she’s taught me so much. They are man’s best friend, truly. I can’t give her new owner enough credit."

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