When the world gets to be a little too much, sometimes something as simple as a hug can really brighten your day and make things feel okay for a little while. While most people get hugs from friends, family, or partners, I’m really holding out for a hug from Louboutina the golden retriever.
- Louboutina really loves giving hugs. A bit of a local celebrity in her native NYC and on her Instagram page, where she has almost 200,000 followers, Louboutina loves nothing more than wandering around her city and giving hugs to anyone who might like one. Sign me up for one of those, please!
- Every walk she takes always gets stopped short. According to Louboutina’s owner, Cesar Fernandez-Chavez, every time he takes the golden retriever out for a walk, they don’t get very far before someone stops them for a hug. “It’s just not a regular walk,” he told The Dodo. “It’s a walk with hugging. So we don’t get to go too far.”
- No, she wasn’t taught to do this. Fernandez-Chavez insists that he never trained Louboutina to give hugs and would never force the animal to do it as a trick. Instead, it’s a habit she picked up all on her own after first trying to hold hands with her owner after he had a bad breakup around Valentine’s Day 2014. “She started sitting up and grabbing my hands with both of her paws, and then crossing the other paw over her paw,” Fernandez-Chavez recalled. “I remember joking with my friends, ‘At least I have someone to hold hands with during Valentine’s.'”
- Once Louboutina starts hugging, she doesn’t want to let go. “She gets a very good grip, depending on where I’m standing,” Fernandez-Chavez says. “I have to make sure that I’m keeping well-balanced.” She can give me all the hugs she’d like! I wouldn’t want to let go either!
- Sorry, but Louboutina won’t hug just anyone. While the pup does love showing affection, she won’t give it to just anyone she sees passing by. “Sometimes people run up and ask for a hug, but I tell them, ‘I don’t think it’s going to happen,’ because she has to bond with that person first,” he said. “But when she sits next to someone, then I say, ‘You’re probably going to get a hug.'”
