Golden Retriever Spots Tree Cutting Crew, Immediately Wants ‘To Help’

A 1-year-old golden retriever stepping up to help a tree crew in the neighborhood delighted the workers and the millions who watched the Instagram video.

Gublu, who also goes by Goobs, was always fascinated with sticks, his owner Emily Thomas told Newsweek via Instagram. Ever since he was a puppy, he would pick up as many sticks as possible and carry them around, which is fairly common with dogs.

As descendants of wolves, dogs still possess a prey drive and because they do not have as many opportunities as their wild animal ancestors, they turn to sticks to suffice, a 2024 article from Better Pet stated. They might love the doggy toys they receive, but collecting sticks satisfies their instinct to forage.

Hunting and holding onto sticks gives dogs a sense of accomplishment. Plus, sticks provide them a direct link to the natural world through smells and other animals that might have interacted with it.

Goobs recently became concerned with all the stick possibilities in his backyard when workers came over and began cutting down trees. Thomas said Goobs watched them the entire time, completely invested in what was happening to his stick wonderland.

“…I decided to walk him outside to check out what the deal was, and he immediately picked up a stick and walked over to them,” she said.

Thomas recorded Goobs with a giant stick in his mouth as he strutted closer to the tree crew. He wanted “to help” the workers while they loaded tree branches into the truck.

As Goobs and Thomas got closer, all the workers lit up. They loved the special help and surprise. One even tried showing Goobs where to drop the stick, but he was too proud to let it out of his possession.

“They smiled and laughed as Goobs brought the stick to them,” Thomas said. “They were very cool about him being there and can definitely say it made their day.”

Instagram Users React

Like the workers, Instagram users instantly fell in love with Goobs and his determination to help. The video, which was shared on April 10 by @homewithgoobs, amassed over 2.9 million views and 294,000 likes as of Monday afternoon.

One user wrote: “Great job, officially branded branch manager.”

A second added: “So much pride in that tail wag. Great job goobs!!!”

And a third pointed out: “I love how EVERYONE is smiling and showing all their teeth.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.