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Sharing the news brought radio star Amanda Keller to tears.
On September 16, the beloved host took to the airwaves on the Jonesy and Amanda Show to share that the “burst of sunshine” in her life – her Border Collie Mini had died after a battle with cancer.
It had been just weeks since Mini – who lived at home with Amanda, 64, and her husband Harley Oliver, who suffers from the progressive brain disorder Parkinson’s disease, had been diagnosed with lymphoma.
Now, the pup – who Amanda previously credited with being the “sunshine and the glue” in her home amid her husband’s health battle – was gone.
“I lost my dog yesterday. Our old Mini, as they say, she crossed the Rainbow Bridge,” the star tearfully told her radio listeners.
“You know, yesterday was just such a long, hard day because early in the morning, I realised that that was going to have to be the day.”
Amanda explained that initially she thought she was just going to take Mini to the vet for a final checkup, but then she realised that even getting the 14-year-old dog into the car was incredibly difficult.
“I thought we’re at the end here,” she emotionally shared.
In the end, Mini’s vet came to the house – and as Amanda waited for the inevitable, she had time to reflect.
“I just sat there looking at the dog. I ate my feelings. I had a big tub of Ben and Jerry ice cream, ate some chips. I just sat and looked at the dog,” Amanda explained of what happened before the vet arrived.
The star said her two adult sons, Liam and Jack, came over to sit with her, Harley and Mini in their courtyard, where Mini poignantly stood beside Harley’s wheelchair so Amanda could put his hand on her head one last time.
“We’re all patting her and telling her we loved her. And then we got the call saying, for the vet saying we’re five minutes away, and suddenly everything was there. And we thought, ‘God, we’re actually here now’, the star went on.
The family moved to the lounge room, where they “chose the spot” for Mini to take her final breaths.
“We’re in the lounge room, and she was just like, almost gently snoring,” Amanda shared, saying she held Mini’s head in her hands as she passed away.
“It was a very, very gentle passing, and I had her head in my hands as she went,” she said.
Amanda’s emotional telling of events left friends and fans rallying to support her.
Media personality Deborah Hutton, shared her own message, writing that she was giving her friend the “longest loving hug”.
“It’s truly heartbreaking to lose [these] beautiful creatures 🐶 such joy & love they bring to our lives,” she wrote.
Singer Tina Arena also shared a message, writing, “Oh Amanda… I just don’t know what to say to console you. No doubt Mini lived quite the life with you all… “
Speaking on her radio show, Amanda told co-host Brendan Jones that after Mini had passed she found a “tiny bit of fur on the floor” where the vet had shaved her arm to administer the final injection.
“I put it in this necklace I’ve got here that my grandparents gave me when I was about four. It’s a locket. It’s a little locket.,” she emotionally shared, adding that the morning after Mini had died her sons took her for a coffee down at the beach where she used to walk the dog.
She said she was inspired to do it by a fellow dog-owner she has seen down there for 15 years – Arthur.
He lost his own beloved dog a week prior to Mini’s death, and he’d told Amanda that he was determined to keep sitting on the bench he used to with his own pup.
“So that’s what I did today,” Amanda shared.
She concluded with a final tribute to her beautiful dog.
“On we go, on we go. And after Minnie passed last night, the boys had a beer, a glass of wine. We clinked. Mini being just the bestest dog.”
The news of Mini’s passing comes after years of Amanda and her husband Harley Oliver navigating his ongoing illness.
Harley, who has been married to Amanda for 36 years, was first diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2017. She shared the news publicly in 2023.
Earlier this year, Amanda shared an update on Harley’s condition while talking about how he still went out of his way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with her.
“It’s so hard, as you can imagine, to see the person you love not be as able as they used to be. Of course, it’s so hard,” she said at the time. “And so I’ve learned that sometimes those big events like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, our easy banter, our easy chat, our easy being with each other isn’t as easy.”
She then went on to say she’d gone for a walk with Mini and came home to find a bouquet of flowers sitting on the kitchen bench.
“He obviously got someone to help him with that,” she explained. “And his handwriting is so scrawly now, but there was a little card that said, ‘Please be my Valentine’s forever’. And I just thought, when we’re just talking about the effort… You know, is the effort more than the thought, any effort from him like that just means so much to me. It’s a big deal.”
Amanda posted a tribute to Harley on Instagram earlier this year when the couple marked their 36th wedding anniversary, alongside a card with a photo of two old people on it that she sent Harley just before they got married.
“I sent this card to Harley just before we married, when I was away on a Beyond 2000 filming trip. I joked that we’d be sitting side by side in our dotage 40 years later,” she wrote at the time.
“40 years seemed like a crazy unimaginable leap. But I was keen for it all and I believed in us. Today is our 36th wedding anniversary. Not everything has been smooth sailing. Harley’s health means some days are scary, sad and confronting. But I’d still choose ‘us’ every day. Still on the ride. Still leaping and believing.”
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