The reason for today’s special story is Gertie, whose full name is Gertrude, a 14-year-old dog who was on her way to a unique goal: to get 1000 hugs. Gertie was a mixed breed, and she was found together with her inseparable friend, the Chihuahua Pablo, in Arizona at McDonald’s. Kate Goodhart, with a symbolic last name, adopted them together through Facebook. The problem with them was that they were older, so despite a pretty good Facebook campaign, no one wanted to adopt them for a long time, but Kate couldn’t resist them and decided to adopt them as soon as she saw their pictures on social media.

Unfortunately, as it often happens, older dogs like Gertie can be abandoned because their owners decide to have small puppies, and for this reason, they cruelly leave their beloved dogs somewhere on the road. Anyone who has ever had an older dog knows how much he is full of love for his owners, not only love but also calmness, wisdom, and experience, Gertie was no different.

After adopting Gertie, Kate decided to take her to the vet, the findings of the examination unfortunately did not indicate a bright future. After the examination, the vet suggested putting her to sleep because the road ahead of Gertie was full of pain due to her illness and age. However, regardless of the vet’s advice, Kate was determined to give Gertie a chance, she believed in her fighting spirit and was persistent in her intention to give her as many beautiful moments as possible until the end of her life. To the satisfaction of her family, as soon as she settled in the house, Gertie perked up, as if she had a surplus of energy, and her health improved a lot, it’s amazing how love for a dog positively affects him.

After being adopted, Gertie embarked on a unique mission, to collect at least 1000 hugs before she leaves us forever. The goal of this whole project is to give that old dog as much love and joy as possible – a wonderful act and idea of its new owner, Kate. Everything, of course, was done in order for Gertie to enjoy everything. For example, if it were to happen that Gertie became tired, the hugging would immediately end, and she would go on a well-deserved rest. Everything was focused on Gertie and what she wanted at that moment.

In the name of that project, a Facebook page was created where followers could enjoy daily photos of Gertie’s happy moments in all the places where she met people who were ready to share the joy with her. You can check on her Facebook page how many people supported everything that happened on her path and how many messages of love and support were left for her in the comments on Facebook. Her story went so far that even some local newspapers in Anthem, Arizona wrote about her. We hope that her story reached enough people and changed some people’s awareness of older dogs and encouraged them to adopt.

Unfortunately, Gertie left us forever in 2016, and here below you can see her last video where she was recorded before she passed away:

This project primarily served to raise awareness about older dogs, and dogs in general; how important they are to our family members, and how they deserve to return the same love that they unconditionally give to us. Gertie was not with us in public, but she was around long enough to spread love and joy to all the people she met along the way and who followed her through social networks and other media.

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