A mailman who had befriended an elderly dog, has found a lovely way to fulfill its last wishes in the most heart-touching way.
Gretchen the German shepherd used to look forward to seeing her mailman friend, Fernando Barboza at her door, so when she died earlier this month, her owners presented the mailman with a note and a bag of dog treats.
My dad is a mailman and he likes to give dogs on his route treats. Today he told us one of the dogs on his route passed away and his owners gave him this bag of treats with this note 😭 pic.twitter.com/JA46PU60a4
— eyelean (@amorningsting) April 1, 2019
The note read: “Gretchen passed away yesterday. She asked me to ask you if you would share her treats that she never got to finish with the other dogs on your route. She always enjoyed seeing you come to the door and was always happy to get a snack from you. Thank you, the Cimino Family.”
Barboza was very touched by this act, and sent a picture of it to his 22-year-old daughter, who published it to Twitter.
Thank you. I know she’s up in heaven looking pleased with herself just like this. I’m hoping her story will get people to see that adopting older rescues is well worth it. pic.twitter.com/7t6b1X67VJ
— DeCuervo (@DeCuervo2) April 5, 2019
Her tweet read, “My dad is a mailman and he likes to give dogs on his route treats. Today he told us one of the dogs on his route passed away and his owners gave him this bag of treats with this note.” It has now been shared several hundreds of times.
Barboza, who is an animal lover himself, says that he has always carried around a bag of dog treats in his mail truck so he can use them to make friends with the pups on his route.
My wife and I were told about Gretchen’s letter to Fernando being on Twitter. I can’t begin to tell y’all how much it has meant to us seeing how much love and support y’all have shown our girl. She was the absolute best. This is a short video of her seeing her mailman. pic.twitter.com/uK9Y2BtKtO
— DeCuervo (@DeCuervo2) April 4, 2019
He then goes on to say that these treats were part of the reason that he became the first person outside of the Cimino family who Gretchen liked and so as a way to honor his friend, he has doled out the treats in her honor.
The Ciminos further added, “I know that she would have wanted her favorite things that she couldn’t finish to go to her friends,” He added, “She may not have liked many people, but she absolutely loved other dogs many of her neighborhood puppy pals happy.
They hope that by sharing this story, others would be encouraged to adopt older dogs like Gretchen, who has not only impacted his owners lives but also on other people’s lives as well.