A dog on chemo collapsed and stopped breathing during a photo shoot. Minutes later, the photographer says, ‘her little tail started wagging’

As a pet photographer, Emily loves animals and proudly shares her work on her studio’s TikTok channel, Tailor Mayde Pet Photography (tailormayde_petphotog). A few days ago, however, the New York resident shared an emotional story of a photoshoot that went wrong, calling it the “most crazy thing that’s ever happened to me as a 10+ years as a pet photographer.”

In her video, she shakily told her viewers as she sat in her car, “I just had a dog die during my photo shoot.” She said that Harper, her client’s dog, had been undergoing chemotherapy but seemed fine to walk to a park bench to take photos. Emily noted that the excited dog even tried to run but soon started “getting a little lopsided” and “wobbly.” Then suddenly, “She fell over. Um, she, uh, defecated. She was on the ground.”

Emily said her client immediately started begging the dog not to go, and that “time stood still” as Harper lay there. The photographer said that after three to five minutes, “she took a huge breath and started breathing again.” A little while later, “her little tail started wagging, and she didn’t die.” Emily laughed weakly and noted that, thankfully, her client was a veterinarian, so they whisked Harper to the hospital.

A follow-up came with positive news and pictures

Emily shared that while Harper was recovering, she got permission to take some pictures with the owner and the dog. She shared these in a follow-up video, along with a screenshot of an email from the client saying that Harper was doing well. Emily told her viewers that the experience motivated her to sign up for pet first aid and CPR training, noting, “Hopefully I never need it, but I know that I’ll have it if I do.”

Scores of her viewers shared their own scary experiences with their dogs. One user told Emily that Harper’s episode “Sounds like syncope,” though Emily didn’t share what caused it. A TikToker who identified themselves as a groomer shared that a golden retriever they were working on suddenly “collapsed, stopped breathing, peed itself splat on the floor, then suddenly started breathing.”

Other owners have described similar close calls, including one whose German shepherd’s routine bath nearly ended in tragedy before she recovered. One user under Emily’s video shared, “This keeps happening to my dog. It’s the worst thing to witness. The vet said once it gets to be too much then we will have to put him down.”

Others shared their raw reactions to the video, with users saying that if it had been their dog, they would have been “hysterical,” or “would have died myself.” One user quipped, “what do we say to the god of death??? not today.” Lastly, one of Emily’s clients shared photos of their pet and wrote, “Y’all are a blessing though. You give us a memory to take with us well after they’re gone.”

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Harper’s owner’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Emily’s TikTok video.