Emmerdale legend Natalie J Robb marked the loss of beloved dog in special way

Emmerdale’s Natalie J Robb has reflected on the loss of her dog, and how she began to heal from her grief.

The actress, who is 50, is best known for her role as Moira Dingle in the ITV soap. Natalie doesn’t have any children, but absolutely adores looking after rescue dogs.

Natalie is currently dog-mum to two-year-old Buddy. In February 2024 though, she experienced huge devastation when her first dog Bronson died at the age of 15.

Bronson was a cross breed of Japanese Akita and Rottweiler and was rescued by Natalie when he was 2.

Natalie reflected on her life with Bronson recently, describing him as her soulmate. She said that when the dog died, the grief she felt was like nothing she had previously experienced.

‘I missed him so much. I found it particularly hard coming home from a day’s filming and him not being there’, she said in a moving chat with the Mirror.

To help with moving forward, Natalie had a special piece of jewellery made.

‘It was tough. I had a necklace made with his chest hair inside and he is by my heart. I never take it off other than when I am playing Moira’, she revealed.

Just before welcoming new pup Buddy to her home, Natalie experienced a very detailed dream that almost felt like fate to her.

‘One night I woke up crying. I had a dream with this big blonde dog running through the woods with me. He had black eyes and a black snout. Bronson was there and he came and looked at me. But I woke up because it wasn’t Bronson.’

Natalie added: ‘I spotted this photo of a mastiff dog looking exactly the same as the one in my dream. It was as if Bronson was telepathic and sending me a message. I rang them up and while I couldn’t meet him because of work, I saw lots of videos of him.

‘Because of the dream, I knew this dog was for me.’

Another star passionate about looking after dogs is Casualty’s Olly Rix.

Back in July, he told me about a recent visit to The Dogs Trust centre in Cardiff.

‘It was amazing. They talked me through the whole thing. How they work as an organisation and across the country, to how they work in that specific locality and in Cardiff’, he said.

‘I met various different dogs who all have different back stories, some absolutely heartbreaking, some actually oddly sort of uplifting. I met puppies who have just been born. They didn’t have any kind of story but they were absolutely beautiful. 

‘They do so much work and it’s so variable. It isn’t really a sort of gut wrenchingly heartbreaking day. There’s such a beautiful energy there. The people involved are just so humbling to be around.

‘They are so selfless, and so focused on all the dogs there. It’s such a tonic to the b******t of everyday life, to just go and be around some thoughtful, wonderful souls.’

Olly is currently playing the role of Flynn Byron in the medical drama.

After spending the day at the centre, Olly headed home to look after his own furry best friend Nellie. The pooch is still young, which means Olly has recently had to battle through what everyone faces becoming owner to a new dog: sleepless nights, toilet training, and chaotic mishaps. 

‘I think dogs can irrevocably change anybody’s life’, he noted.

‘Little Nellie came along at a time when I was having a bit of a tough time, sort of personally and professionally, and it was just a bit of a tricky patch. It happens in life sometimes, and she came along in a moment when I needed to take my own attention away from myself, and not sort of become overly introspective or overly self centred, I suppose.

‘It was really valuable and helped.’

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