Late last month in Trstenik, Serbia, Vesna Vukojevic was walking past a bakery when something on the sidewalk made her stop in her tracks.
There, lying beside a mechanical statue with a moving arm, was a lonely stray dog.
Desperate for affection, he had nestled up beside the machine and positioned himself so that its robotic hand appeared to be petting him — a heartbreaking imitation of real human love.
Vesna captured the moment on video and posted it online. The clip quickly went viral, touching thousands of hearts around the world.
“That just shattered me,” one viewer wrote.
“Poor pup just wants someone to love him,” said another.
Among those moved was animal lover Nina Savić, who couldn’t get the image out of her head. Determined to give the dog the love he deserved, Nina and a few friends set out to find him.
They rescued him from the streets and brought him over 200 miles to her home in Belgrade.
She named him Hogar the Horrible — a playfully ironic name for a dog so gentle and sweet.
At first, Hogar wasn’t sure what to make of his new situation. He had lived so long without affection that it took time for him to understand that the cuddles he was getting were real.
But slowly, he began to open up.
“He’s wonderful — he loves to be held,” said Maja Pinter, a fellow rescuer. “He just rests his head in the hands of anyone he meets.”
Though Nina hopes to find Hogar a permanent home, she admits it’s getting harder to imagine parting with him.
“Everyone falls in love with him,” Pinter said. “He knows how to melt every heart.”
From being overlooked on the streets to being cherished in a warm home, Hogar’s days of loneliness are officially behind him.
To learn more about Hogar, and to keep up with his future adventures, consider following him on Instagram.
