A woman checked in on her dogs while on a work trip, only to decide she would never leave them again.
Priscilla Lopez, 32, is from Los Angeles, and has gone viral for sharing a video of the moment her life changed to her company’s Instagram account, @bluepawhome, on December 29.
Since she was a teenager, Lopez was the proud owner of dogs Milo and Max, now aged 15 and 17, and, like all pet owners, sometimes had to leave home for somewhere she couldn’t take her pets. If this happened, Lopez would organize a pet sitter—but, three years ago, after setting up a camera and seeing how her dogs reacted without her, she never left them alone for too long again.
Lopez told Newsweek that she had just bought a new home and had installed a Ring camera that could keep an eye on her pets. When she had to travel for two weeks for work, her sister stayed in the house and looked after Max and Milo, who were both senior dogs.
But though the canines were safe, cared for and in their own home, when Lopez watched the Ring camera footage back, she knew she was never going to leave them again.
In the video, viewed more than 355,000 times, Lopez wrote: “The moment I decided I would no longer leave my dogs longer than a few hours.”
It shows Milo in the room in the new home, boxes still waiting to be unpacked, pacing the room and howling loudly, jumping up on the bed and looking around, as if calling for his owner.
Lopez wrote in the caption: “Before catching this on camera, I had never heard Milo howl before. I never heard him howl period. He missed me so much. After this moment, I decided my work life needed to revolve around my last few years with them.”
After this incident, Lopez said, Milo went to work with her each day, and she “never left them for more than three hours at a time.”
She told Newsweek that watching the footage “broke my heart, because I had never heard him howl before.”
Lopez said: “I’ve had him since he was a few weeks old and since I was 16. Seeing that made me realize just how deeply he missed me and how the dog sitting was not enough. It became a turning point in my life.
“From that moment on, I decided I would never be away from my dogs longer than a few hours at a time, or unless I [had] tried every other alternative before leaving them longer. Every job and gig I accepted afterward was chosen so they could be with me, or so I could be home with them.”
Her video had a big response online, with one viewer writing, “Oh how sad,” and many sharing crying and heart emoji in a show of support.
Others were concerned that Lopez had left the dogs alone at home for two weeks, with people just checking in on them—but she said that her sister was living there with them at the time.
Another user posted: “I left nursing to spend the last 6ish months to be with my baby boy Owen. I am grateful God/universe whatever you call it gave me everything I asked for, which was time with Owen.”
Lopez said how their life changed “significantly” after she saw the video: training and working with Max and Milo to help them feel “comfortable going more places with me,” such as work, travel, or simply running errands.
And that’s how it stayed, until Milo sadly died in 2025 at the age of 15.
“Milo was incredibly gentle, loving and welcoming who loved sneaking away other people’s food, playing with his tennis ball, and his teddy bears,” Lopez said of her adored pet. “He left a deep impression on neighbors and friends, many of whom were heartbroken when he passed.
“He taught me discipline, patience, and unconditional love, and showed me that older dogs can still learn, adapt, and thrive.”
in January, Lopez launched company BluePawHome.com, inspired by Max and Milo, which sells durable leather dog harnesses while giving 10 percent of profits to charities
“It’s my way of continuing Milo’s legacy and helping other animals through the love he gave and showed others is possible.”
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