DANCING WITH THE STARS judge Derek Hough said goodbye to Romie, the rescue dog who stayed beside him through 14 years of change, marriage and the arrival of his first child.
“He loved me through it all and somehow gave me purpose when I couldn’t find it myself,” Hough shared in an Oct. 25 Instagram tribute to his longtime companion.
Romie came into Hough’s life before he became a husband and father, and the dancer described him as a constant through his best and worst moments. Hough wrote that he keeps looking toward the bushes where Romie would usually appear.
His wife, professional dancer Hayley Erbert Hough, shared her own tribute to Romie, remembering 11 years with the first dog she called hers after moving to Los Angeles. She described a gentle, 65-pound companion who considered himself a lap dog, joined their adventures and became part of their growing family.
“Eleven years with you will never feel like enough, but what a gift it was to be loved by you,” Erbert Hough wrote alongside her farewell, thanking her husband for bringing Romie into her life.
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Their story together started with what was supposed to be a single night. In an October 2023 interview with The Spruce Pets, Hough recalled volunteering at a Los Angeles rescue in 2012 because he missed having dogs around.
He walked dogs for the rescue, and staff offered to let him take Romie home overnight. Once Romie climbed onto the couch and settled in his lap, Hough decided the dog would stay.
Years later, the couple’s household grew again when they adopted Luna during the pandemic. Erbert Hough spotted the puppy in a rescue organization’s social media post, and the pair brought her home after going to meet her.
Romie and Luna became companions with their own routines. In that same interview, the couple recalled Luna encouraging Romie to play more, while he helped teach the younger dog boundaries.
They also described the little habits that made Romie unmistakably Romie: playing tag with Hough, approaching people from behind and poking his head between their legs for attention. Erbert Hough said he could hardly focus on anything else when Hough pulled into the driveway until he had greeted him.
The pets even had a place in the couple’s 2023 wedding celebration, though they stayed home rather than attending. Their faces appeared on guests’ napkins and the outside of the reception’s photo booth.
More recently, Romie met another member of the family. Hough and Erbert Hough welcomed their daughter, Everley Capri Hough, on Dec. 29, 2025, and Hough’s farewell described asking his aging companion to stay long enough to meet her.
Long before this goodbye, Hough had already made a habit of pulling Romie aside to thank him. He told The Spruce Pets in 2023 that he wanted to express that gratitude while his dog was still there.
That same gratitude runs through his farewell now. Alongside the ache of missing Romie, Hough thanked him for choosing their family and for everything he had given them.
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