Dog Carries Lookalike Stuffie Everywhere He Goes and the Photos Will Make You Smile

Gumbo and Shrimp are pretty much the cutest combo on the Internet

When Hana Brickman was in nursing school at Washington State University, she volunteered to train service dogs and was matched with a cute golden retriever mix puppy.

The little guy — named Gumbo — failed.

"He was not serious enough," says Brickman, now a 30-year-old nurse. So she adopted him herself.

Years later while shopping at her local IKEA in Vancouver, Washington, Brickman picked up a stuffed dog that looked a lot like Gumbo.

"It wasn't actually for him, it was meant to be for me," she says. But whenever someone would come over, Gumbo would grab the toy from the couch and show it off. "It got drooled on and slobbered on, and I was like, 'Whatever, you can just have it,' " she recalls.

When the pair went for hikes, Gumbo started taking the stuffie with him, carrying it in his mouth and showing it to everyone they encountered. Brickman eventually held a stuffie naming contest on Instagram; “Shrimp” won, and she began documenting the pair's adventures on @gumbowithshrimp.

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"People love it," she says. "We've had the same stuffie, believe it or not, since 2017. He's had stitches and he's almost gotten lost in a lot of places. He has drifted down a river because Gumbo dropped him, and we've had to go rescue him. He's fallen off the side of a cliff, and we've had to [use a] log or something to get him."

"We've straight up lost him on a trail once in Arizona," she continues. "Didn't realize until the next day that he wasn't there in the car, and drove two hours back to the trailhead to go find him, because we were like, 'We can't leave him!' "

Thankfully, a stranger found the toy and put it on the trailhead sign. "They probably thought, 'Some kid lost him,' " Brickman says with a laugh.

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The family has taken gorgeous photos of Gumbo and Shrimp while hiking in Canada, while wearing matching Halloween ghost costumes and even while traveling at Disney.

Gumbo turns 10 in December, and both he and Shrimp (who "needs surgery," Brickman says) are slowing down. But despite continuing to explore with her other dogs — whose outings she shares on @mycaninelife — Gumbo remains Brickman's favorite.

"He's always next to me," she says. "He's just a good dog."

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