How a Dog Will Change Your Life (And Maybe Save It)

After photographing 50,000 dogs, The Dogist discovered something simple but profound: dogs aren’t just man’s best friend, they’re proof we still matter

I stopped a stranger on the street yesterday and asked if I could photograph his dog. He cried. I cried. The dog just wagged.

Here’s what actually happened.

I’d just hit “publish” on today’s Passion Struck podcast episode with Elias Weiss Friedman —

The Dogist

— when I took my dogs Bentley and Luma for their morning walk.

Three houses down, I saw an older guy with a limping golden retriever. I asked if I could take their picture “for this thing I just recorded about how dogs save us.”

He looked at me, eyes already red. “She’s my third cancer dog,” he said. “The first two didn’t make it. This one’s on borrowed time, too.”

Then he knelt down, buried his face in her neck, and sobbed like a kid.

I lost it. Bentley shoved his big head under my arm. Luma tried to lick the man’s tears. We stood there in the driveway for ten minutes, five mammals doing the only thing that still makes sense in 2025: holding each other.

That’s the episode that just went live → Passion Struck EP 688: “How a Dog Will Change Your Life” with The Dogist.

But before you press play, here’s why this one hit different.

Because Elias didn’t come on to promote content. He came to preach connection. He came on to remind us that the purest form of love on this planet still has four legs, bad breath, and zero ulterior motives.

While the world argues about whether robots can feel, dogs are over here proving they can heal bullet holes in the soul without ever asking for a thank you.

Elias told me about Chrissy Beckles on Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico. She’s allergic to dogs. She still crawls through sand covered in ticks to carry emaciated street dogs to safety.

One by one.
By hand.
While the rest of us doom-scroll.

He told me about the Marine who said flat-out:

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this dog.”

His wife had never heard a single war story. The dog had heard them all.

And then Elias said the sentence that made me stop in my tracks:

“Dogs don’t care what you look like. They don’t care what car you drive. They lead with trust. We lead with doubt. And when we’re around them long enough…we start to become more like them.”

I’m not okay.

Because last night I sat on the couch with Bentley (my 7-year-old black Lab) and Luma (our new 7-month-old rescue terrorist). I put my phone in the kitchen. I let Luma chew my sleeve. I let Bentley rest his big dumb head on my chest until I could feel his heartbeat sync with mine.

Picture of Bentley and Luma

For fifteen minutes, I wasn’t a podcast host. I wasn’t a subscriber count. I wasn’t a human doing. I was just… theirs.

And I felt something I haven’t felt in months: Weight.

The beautiful, inconvenient weight of being needed exactly as I am.

Elias ended the episode with the simplest assignment on earth:

Tonight, sit with your dog.
No phone.
Let them sniff longer on the walk. Because pulling them away from a good smell is like ripping a novel out of their hands.

If you don’t have a dog, go to a shelter. Walk past the cute puppies. Find the 12-year-old senior who’s been there 400 days. Look into their eyes for 30 seconds. Then try to tell me nothing in your chest just cracked open.

We’re all walking around pretending to be invulnerable. Meanwhile, dogs are over here performing miracles at 60 sniffs per second.

Bottom line: Dogs help us remember we matter.

So here’s the deal:

First, listen to Episode 688 ad-free right now. →

Second, do the assignment Elias gave us. Phone down. Dog up. 15 minutes. (If you don’t have a dog, borrow one. Steal one. I won’t tell.)

Third, come back here and tell me in the comments what happened. I want to read about the moment your dog looked at you like you were the entire sun. I want to cry with you.

If this wrecked you even 1/10th as hard as that driveway wrecked me…hit subscribe. The Irreplaceables series is just getting started.

I’m over here on the floor, covered in fur and salt water.

Come join me.

— John

P.S. Elias’s new NY Times bestselling book “This Dog Will Change Your Life” is the most beautiful thing I’ve read all year. Get it. Read it out loud to your dog. Watch what happens.

Share this with someone who needs to remember they matter to someone who can’t use words.

And if you’re still reading…go tell your dog they’re a good boy or girl out loud.

I’ll wait.