These heart-wrenching images show the moment a dying dog appears to wave goodbye to its loving owner.

The incident took place in the city of Jinzhong, which is located in Shanxi Province, in northern China, on Thursday, 20th January.

The owner of the dog, who has been named as Ms Xu, reportedly adopted the pooch, which she said was an Alaskan Malamute, six years ago, in 2015.

But death comes for everyone, and she shared these images online showing her dog, whose name is unclear, hooked up to an IV drip and visibly worse for wear.

She said that after it fell ill, she took it to a vet, who found numerous tumours in its liver. After just a few days, its abdomen became swollen. The dog was reportedly in a lot of pain, and the decision was made to put it down.

In the footage, the dog can be seen putting both of its paws together and moving them forwards towards the camera and then back again. Ms Xu said that she believed that her beloved pet was waving goodbye to her before passing on.

She said that she told her dog “If you feel uncomfortable, just leave, don’t insist”, which is what prompted it to ‘wave’.

The footage shows the dog apparently waving goodbye to its owner before shuffling around and lying down. The canine reportedly passed away shortly thereafter.

The touching footage quickly made the rounds on social media in China, with netizens expressing an outpouring of emotion and support for the grieving owner and her dog.

One netizen, going by the handle ‘Chinobico 27642’, said: “dogs are very spiritual animals”.

While ‘Hooko is also very happy today’ said: “it’s so sad. I hope the dog will be a human in the next life. Every dog find a good owner”.