This retriever has a heart of gold.
Whenever Cesar Fernandez-Chavez walks his dog, Louboutina, or Loubie for short, around his Manhattan neighborhood, it takes longer than one would expect. Thatβs because the 5-year-old golden retriever usually wonβt budge until sheβs given Fernandez-Chavez a big, hearty hug around his legs.
βSheβs very stubborn,β Fernandez-Chavez told the Huffington Post. βShe pretty much forces me to do it, sheβs like, βIβm not going anywhere if we donβt do some PDA here, right now.ββ
Fernandez-Chavez also says he thinks his pup has a really pretty face and tends to attract attention. When she finds a human admirer she likes, she gets cozy real quick.
βI think she tries to find someone who she feels safe with,β Fernandez-Chavez told HuffPost.
After Loubie has made her pick, she sits next to that person. Once she begins leaning on their legs, she goes in for the kill.
βI tell them, βI think youβre about to get hugged, so get ready.β And they freak out, in a good way.β
And could you blame them?
βItβs always a cute moment,β Fernandez-Chavez said.
Yet Loubie wasnβt always a hugger. Her journey to becoming βlouboutinanyc,β the extremely popular hugging pup on Instagram, first began in February 2014.
It was week or two before Valentineβs Day, and Loubie and Fernandez-Chavez were at the tail end of a walk when Loubie stopped dead in her tracks and began pawing his hand. She kept on insisting he take her paw, so he took a grasp of it and she lifted herself up on her hind legs.
Fernandez-Chavez said that once she found her balance, she then crossed her other paw over the one he was holding.
So, there they stood, just around the corner from Fernandez-Chavezβs house, holding hands.
βSo thatβs when I said, βThis is weird. Who am I hanging out with here, Queen Elizabeth?β She was such a SeΓ±ora, a lady.β
The next time the two went for a walk, Loubie did the same thing. And then the next time and the next.
Fernandez-Chavez thought his poochβs new habit was a little peculiar, but when he told his friends about it, he made a joke.
βI said, βAt least I have someone to hold hands with on Valentineβs Day.ββ
A week after Loubie begin insisting they hold hands whenever they went on a walk, they ran into actor Gerald Butler on the street. According to Fernandez-Chavez, Butler saw Loubie and him holding hands and came over to talk to them.
βAnd he was like, βThis is not for real, what are you guys doing?ββ
Fernandez-Chavez explained his dogβs new obsession and Butler asked if he could take a few pictures with Loubie. Fernandez-Chavez got a few snapshots of them as well and posted them to Facebook. The photos got such a large response from his friends, that someone suggested he start an Instagram page for Loubie.
A year later, in the spring of 2015, Loubie graduated from holding hands to giving hugs.
βThis is something I never trained her to do,β Fernandez-Chavez. βItβs just her personality. I just let her do her thing.β
After Loubie began hugging strangers, her Instagram page started to become more and more popular. Fernandez-Chavez says that for the past year, most of the posts on her account are reposted from others who have photographed their encounters with Loubie.
As to why Loubie does what she does, Fernandez-Chavez has one cheeky answer:
βShe was born here in the U.S., but raised Latina,β he said. βSo she gets a little passionate sometimes.β