Meet the golden retriever who is obsessed with giving people hugs

As soon as Cesar Fernandez-Chavez and his golden retriever, Loubie, walk out the door, Cesar knows it’s not going to be a regular walk.

Because Loubie simply can’t stopping hugging people.

Cesar Fernandez-Chavez and Loubie (short for Louboutina) live in Manhattan, New York.

Loubie has become a bit of a celebrity around the neighborhood, where stops constantly to give out some of her incredible hugs.

“We don’t get to go too far,” Cesar tells The Dodo.

A few years ago, Cesar taught Loubie to shake hands. But somehow, the handshakes turned to hugs. And she gradually started to hug more and more people — even strangers.

“Instead of asking me to do the holding hands thing, she just sat up, very close to my legs, and she’d wrap her legs around my knees. She gets a very good grip,” Cesar says.

When passersby saw Cesar and Loubie hugging, they often stopped to take a picture. And it didn’t take long before Loubie wanted to hug them, too.

“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. But when she sits next to someone, then I say, ‘You’re probably going to get a hug,” Cesar says.