These sweet golden retrievers learned how to hug

Golden Retrievers hug
Facebook/Kylo and Vader the Retrievers

They may have villainous names, but Kylo and Vader are a pair of golden retrievers who show nothing but love to each other.

The pups, who are named after jedi masters from the dark side in Star Wars, came from separate liters and are just nine months apart. Their owner, Kieran Lehane of Perth, Australia, had Kylo first before bringing home puppy Vader, who cuddled up to his new “big brother” immediately.

Because Vader is so naturally affectionate and Kylo so tolerant of the other dog’s antics, Lehane told “Today” that he thought the younger dog would be easy to train to “hug” his dog bro.

Here’s Vader piling on top of Kylo.

Lehane’s hunch was right that Vader was trainable for hugs. The human slowly got the dog used to moving from shaking to putting his paws around Kylo, using a tasty treat of cooked chicken.

“I could see he worked out, ‘If I hug Kylo, then it would be worth it,'” Lehane told “Today.” “So I would just say ‘BFF,’ and every time, he would do it. It eventually got better and better. Kylo’s just chill so he would sit there and get a treat, too.”

You can watch a montage of Kylo/Vader hugs below on their official Facebook page.

The dogs have gotten a bunch of positive feedback from their social media followers, said Lehane.

“In some of the captions I put in a message or even a reminder to tell someone to hug the people closest to you or send some love,” he said. “I would love to increase all the positivity and just the pure joy that Kylo and Vader and goldens and dogs tend to bring to people, especially during hard times.”

Below, Lehane talks about remembering to enjoy the little things.

We love to see these two goldens and all the love they have to share with each other and everyone else.

Animals, Pets
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About the Author
Anna Weaver
Anna Weaver is a writer and multimedia journalist from Hawaii. Her two young kids keep her on her toes and hooked on online shopping. Anna’s also a fan of movies, reading, photography, and sharing far too many IG stories about cute dogs and capybaras.

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