Monty Don left fans devastated after sharing a tribute to his dog Patti.
The Gardeners’ World presenter posted a snap of his seven-year-old Yorkshire Terrier Patti and his four-year-old Golden Retriever Ned’s names engraved into the stone pathway of his Doghouse.
The BBC horticulturalist, 71, initially designed the Doghouse as part of his show garden for The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2025 and later moved it to his sprawling garden Longmeadow in Herefordshire.
Don - who previously credited his dogs with helping him through depression and “simmering anxiety” - simply captioned the post: "In the threshold of the Doghouse."
The sweet tribute to his dogs had fans rushing to the comments, fearing that Patti had died.
"Patti died? I did not realise this I’m so sorry,” one penned, as another asked: "Did Patti pass away?" A third wrote: "I did not know Patti had died."
Others jumped in to point out that Don had Ned and Patti’s names engraved in the stone last year and that both dogs were alive.
"Guys it's his dog's names in the doghouse. They didn't die!!" one penned.
Another urged Don: "I think you need to post a clarification as there are a lot of upset people commenting here!"
Don designed the bespoke doghouse as part of his first-ever design at the Chelsea Flower Show, which was named the RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden, created using Ned's natural pathways and built using reclaimed materials.
While the garden was relocated to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in London as a permanent sensory and training space for rescue animals, the doghouse replaced Don’s battered potting shed in his own garden.
The gardening expert’s tribute to Patti and Ned comes after the tragic death of his Brittany Spaniel dog Peggy in January.
"Peggy died yesterday. She was an old lady - a few weeks short of her 16th birthday- and went as she had lived, gently and without fuss,” Don penned at the time.
"She was eccentric, quirky, infinitely gentle and loving and will be missed terribly. She is now buried in the coppice alongside Nigel and Nell and the other dogs."
The TV star lost his dogs Nigel in 2020 and Nell in 2023.
Don credited Golden Retriever Nigel, who died aged 12, with helping him through his depression and said his death was “quick” but “shocking” for the family.
Nigel became the surprise star of Gardeners’ World, receiving his own fan mail, social media fan accounts and lent his name to Don’s book Nigel: My Family And Other Dogs.
“I think if you suffer from any kind of mental illness, whether be it depression or anxiety or whatever, having someone to look after, who returns that attention with completely unqualified love, is very powerful, it’s powerful medicine,” Don said on the Radio 4 Today programme.
“There’s just the basics – if you have a dog you have to take it for a walk, which means you have to go outside, you have to put your boots on and put a coat on and as anybody listening knows, when you are depressed, you don’t do any of that.
“If you get out of bed you just sort of eat badly, you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, you don’t do what you want to do because you don’t really want to do anything and so on and so forth, so having a dog that needs food and water and a walk and attention and who just loves you is extraordinary.
“At the moment there is sort of a simmering level of anxiety and people are being very brave and they’re resourceful and extraordinary but at the same time everybody is scared and anxious and pets, and in my case dogs, leaven that, they hold it steady, they tie you to a better reality.
“I think for all of us that happens and I think for millions of people who watch Gardeners’ World, clearly Nigel was part of that.”
Don added: “He was a member of our family and there’s a great big Nigel-shaped hole in our lives. But he was 12, he had a lovely life. His death was shocking for us but it was quick and his last day we went for a walk and he ate and he was just super.
“It was just a lovely day and I think we were blessed. I’ve had lots of dogs and I hope I have more but that one relationship lightened our lives and we were lucky, we were really, really lucky.”
