{"id":2480372,"date":"2026-06-29T12:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2480372"},"modified":"2026-06-29T12:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:56:33","slug":"beloved-campus-celebrity-dog-trouper-dies-at-11-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/beloved-campus-celebrity-dog-trouper-dies-at-11-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved campus celebrity dog Trouper dies at 11 | Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trouper, a beloved Great Pyrenees rescue, therapy dog and<\/span> campus celebrity<\/span><\/a> at UC Berkeley, died last Thursday at the age of 11.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trouper had<\/span> accrued<\/span><\/a> his own fan club, received hundreds of applications to walk him around campus and helped raise thousands for animal welfare. He died peacefully in his sleep last week, as announced in a June 25 Instagram post by @trouperatcal, the account of the Trouper Fan Club.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students, alumni and fans of Trouper have voiced their support in the wake of his passing. Many have shared their stories and fond memories with the loving, fluffy campus celebrity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHe is like a little kid. He likes to splash in the water, so he\u2019ll go into Strawberry Creek and \u2026 play around for a bit,\u201d said senior Erin Rogers, reflecting on a memorable walk she had with Trouper. \u201cWe would sometimes share fries from (The Golden Bear Caf\u00e9).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers, UC Berkeley alumna Lily Rzonca and a small group of students, along with Trouper\u2019s owners, started the Trouper Fan Club in January 2024. Walks would start at Brown\u2019s and end at Sproul Plaza.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the five years since his introduction to the community, the Great Pyrenees has been loved by thousands on campus and on social media. Before then, Trouper was adopted at the Sierra Pacific Great Pyrenees Club near Sacramento.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morry Rao Herm\u00f3n and Sandhya Rao Herm\u00f3n, Trouper\u2019s owners, adopted him during the COVID-19 lockdown. Sandhya Rao Herm\u00f3n said it was \u201cwonderful\u201d for the family to have company, and they often walked through the UC Berkeley campus during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrouper loved campus,\u201d Sandhya Rao Herm\u00f3n said, especially the creeks in Tilden Regional Park and Strawberry Creek that run through campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pair were both UC Berkeley employees at the time. When Morry Rao Herm\u00f3n returned to in-person work on campus, he said Trouper grew attached, and he ended up taking him along to work. When he did, students asked if they could walk his dog.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers said Trouper was a common thread across so many students who were, above all, aligned in their love for his gentle, playful personality \u2014 and the chance to walk him.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many students of all different backgrounds, and they\u2019re all brought together by this dog,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cFrom bringing together all of these students, you can see the mental load lift itself from your shoulders.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many likened Trouper to a polar bear due to his sheer size and characteristic, gleaming white fur. Former fan club members called him gentle, patient and loving.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trouper\u2019s gentle demeanor served as a serene retreat for students, especially amid UC Berkeley\u2019s often demanding academic environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBerkeley can be a tough environment. It\u2019s easy to be walking on campus and be stressed, or be in your head about a midterm or something,\u201d said senior Genevieve Stubblefield. \u201cI think it was a nice break and levity and comfort to have an animal like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior Lily Salazar, who helped manage the fan club\u2019s Instagram account, said she\u2019s heard many students call Trouper their good luck charm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will constantly come up to me and tell me their story or say, \u2018I\u2019m studying for this midterm, and I\u2019ve been really stressed, and I\u2019m so happy to see Trouper,\u2019\u201d Salazar said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rogers, Salazar and Trouper\u2019s owners highlighted Trouper\u2019s birthday parties on the Glade, fundraising for Berkeley Humane and events such as local school visits that solidified Trouper\u2019s impact on the Berkeley community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a really awesome field trip to one of the local middle schools \u2026 (Students) got to ask him questions, they were petting him,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cWe got to be with the local Berkeley community outside of UC Berkeley.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The club also sold tote bags, mugs, pins and other Trouper-themed merch on Sproul Plaza to fundraise for Berkeley Humane; Morry Rao Herm\u00f3n said the group had raised about $2,000 and was able to hand deliver the first check for $1,000 to the shelter.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trouper also provided a social outlet through which to bond with other students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think anyone who has walked Trouper can agree that his presence is an excellent conversation starter. I\u2019ve gotten to know a lot of people from just saying hi on his walks,\u201d said senior Ellie Kim, who has been a fan of the Great Pyrenees since her freshman year, in an email. \u201cHe\u2019s been a familiar face to many, which is always comforting in such a big school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The fan club\u2019s Instagram asked followers to<\/span> donate<\/span><\/a> to Berkeley Humane to support shelter animals such as Trouper \u201cwho need a forever home.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trouper is survived by the Rao Herm\u00f3n family, their two cats, Squeak and Sky and all the lives he touched at UC Berkeley.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.dailycal.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trouper, a beloved Great Pyrenees rescue, therapy dog and campus celebrity at UC Berkeley, died last Thursday at the age of 11. Trouper had accrued his own fan club, received hundreds of applications to walk him around campus and helped raise thousands for animal welfare. He died peacefully in his sleep last week, as announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2480373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[488260,388722,488269,488261,488266,488258,488267,488264,362892,488265,488263,488268,488262,488257,488259,439417],"class_list":["post-2480372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-berkeley-humane","tag-browns","tag-ellie-kim","tag-erin-rogers","tag-genevieve-stubblefield","tag-great-pyrenees","tag-lily-salazar","tag-morry-rao-hermn","tag-sacramento","tag-sandhya-rao-hermn","tag-sierra-pacific-great-pyrenees-club","tag-sproul-plaza","tag-strawberry-creek","tag-trouper","tag-trouper-fan-club","tag-uc-berkeley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beloved-campus-celebrity-dog-Trouper-dies-at-11-Campus.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2480372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2480372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2480372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480374,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2480372\/revisions\/2480374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2480373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2480372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2480372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2480372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}