Mom Shares the Emotional Moment She Held Her Golden Retriever Puppy for the First Time

I adopted my dog as a puppy more than six years ago, but I still remember the day we brought her home like it was yesterday. I found her at a local rescue, and knew as soon as I saw her that she was meant to be my dog... and when we met face to face that weekend, I found out that thankfully, I was right about that. The car ride home was so special, and that tiny pup slept soundly in my lap the whole way there. I look back at the pictures of those first days and weeks often, and with how big she is now, it's hard to believe she was ever that small!

So maybe I'm a big old softie about moments like this, but I simply cannot get over how sweet the first meeting between this puppy and her brand new mom is in the video below. Take a look:

On Thursday, August 22, dog dad Levi Blehm shared this sweet footage of his Golden Retriever puppy, Goose, being held by his mom for the very first time when they adopted him, and it's very obvious that it was completely love at first sight for both of them.

It looks like it must have been cold that day, because Mom is bundled up and baby Goose is wrapped in a cozy blanket as she holds him in her arms. But he still leaned back as far as he could to really look at her. He knew this was going to be his person forever.

The video prompted many fellow dog parents to think back to their first days with their pups... and it brought on a lot of nostalgia. One commenter wrote, "I’ll NEVER forget when my puppy first looked at me like this."

Hopefully, that moment is something our puppies remember too!

Do Dogs Truly Love Us?

While, like anything else in the world, dogs will perceive love differently than humans do, moments like this really do mean something to our pets, and if you feel like they love you, that's because they do.

According to the American Kennel Club (AKC) a study once found that dogs stare into our eyes to show us their love for us — something that species they're related to (AKA wolves) do not do with humans.

Another study looked at the level of oxytocin in the brains of dogs and their humans, discovering that the levels of the hormone in their brains responded similarly in both species. When you're doing something like petting your dog and it makes you feel happy and close to them, they're feeling happy and close to you, too.

So never forget that your love for your dog is mutual. They're fans of their people just as much as we're fans of them.