If you’re in need of a hug this Valentine’s Day, you better head to Chelsea in New York City, where you can meet Louboutina, the NYC’s celebrity hugging dog with more than 58k followers on her Instagram account. The Golden Retriever, who is named after a French shoe designer, spends around 2 hours a day hugging people she meets on her walk. “It’s just not a regular walk,” her owner, 45-year-old Fernandez-Chavez, told The Dodo. “It’s a walk with hugging.” He adds: “A lot of people say she’s made their day… Like, if they had a bad day at work, maybe that’s just what they needed.”
It all started around Valentine’s Day in 2014, when Loubie started holding hands with her owner just after he had ended a relationship. “She started sitting up and grabbing my hands with both of her paws, and then crossing the other paw over her paw,” Fernandez-Chavez said. “I remember joking with my friends, ‘At least I have someone to hold hands with during Valentine’s.’”
Fast forward to now, Fernandez-Chavez understands that not only him, but the whole world needs the affection his pooch has to offer, so you can drop him an email and fix a hug with Louboutina for yourself if you happen to be in New York.