While dogs are often called "man's best friend," animals of different species can form deep connections too. For 16 years, Max, a loyal cattle dog, woke up at 6:30 a.m. every day to help on the farm. In September 2024, Max made his final trip to the fields, walking to his owner Charley Herrman's truck (@charleyonthefarm) to be driven to the farm. There, in a heartwarming farewell, Max said goodbye to the cows he had tended to for years, in a touching moment captured in a TikTok video.
Representative Image Source: Getty Images | John P Kelly
The video shows Max resting on a patch of grass next to the lush green pastures of Herrman Farm, where the cows are grazing. With the sound of cows mooing softly in the background, Max remains still. In a touching moment, three brown cows approach, seeming to silently acknowledge their old friend before waddling away. In the caption, 72-year-old Charley shared that Max had recently suffered a heart attack, leaving him weakened. The once-energetic Blue Heeler was now beginning to slow down.
Image Source: TikTok | @haileystel
Charley told Newsweek that taking Max to the farm one last time was an appropriate way to honor him for all the work he did for more than a decade. "He had been my loyal work companion seven days a week for over 15 years, always eager to tackle the day alongside me," he said. A few days before the video was posted, Charley noticed an unusual shift in Max’s health. He even consulted a vet and tried everything to keep him healthy and safe, but all efforts seemed to be in vain.
Max’s condition was worsening as days passed, and Charley became certain that these were the canine’s final days. He knew that the pet wanted to have his last trip to the farm. "I knew how much he loved his work on the farm, herding the cows, so I took him back one last time to say goodbye to the life he cherished so deeply," he told Newsweek.
Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Oxygen
Max’s loss was heartbreaking for Charley as he had lost Max’s father, Ira, an Australian shepherd, only three years back. While grappling with grief, Charley wanted to preserve the dogs’ stories and memories. "Max's story is truly special," he said. "Ira taught him the ropes of being a good 'cow dog,' but Max took it to another level. He insisted on going to work seven days a week for all of his 15 years. He developed an incredible bond with the herd, always ensuring they were where they needed to be."
Charley professed that Max had an innate respect for the cows and in return, the cows respected him, which can also be seen in the video. “He was, without a doubt, the smartest dog I've ever had, and I couldn't have asked for a better partner on the farm,” said Charley. He mentioned that Max passed away only a couple of days after his farewell at the farm that day. "It's been an incredibly tough loss; I can't even bring myself to watch the farewell videos. Our farm holds so many moments that will always remind me of him."
You can follow Charley Herrman on TikTok to catch more videos of his farm animals.
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Pictured: A healthy practice?
Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.