A recent customer review submitted by one of their doggie clients is going viral for all the right reasons. Gunnar, a four-year-old Black Labrador Retriever whose mom is local Denver resident Kristi Gacke, left an epic 5-star Yelp review about his experience on a daylong hiking adventure with Hike Doggie back on June 16. What he initially thought was just going to be a routine walk around the block ended up being, as Gunnar states without a hint of exaggeration, "…the greatest adventure of my life."
"This first-person pup review on Yelp is definitely a first for us," stated Kath Allen, founder of Hike Doggie, a franchised business that offers pet parents round-trip excursions to the great outdoors. "The moment we spotted the post, we just knew we had to share Gunnar’s five-star review with as many people as possible. What he wrote in his awesome Yelp review perfectly encapsulates what makes our full-service hiking adventures so special for dogs, capturing the very essence of our brand’s mission statement to ‘make dogs as happy as they make us.’"
Written from Gunnar’s own perspective, the review begins with a disclaimer that he’s a real canine and not a paid spokesdog, before launching into a detailed narrative. He shared that the all-day adventure was the "greatest day of his life, narrowly beating the time he found a half a chicken nugget in a parking lot." While being transported away to the Rockies in one of Hike Doggie’s climate-controlled "Big Blue Busses," Gunnar explained he was so excited that only moments after departing, he felt he was "…already gone emotionally."
Less surprised about the fuss is Gunnar’s dog mom Kristi Gacke, director of sales and marketing for Denver-based HHM Hotels. "To say he’s still pretty amped up about the experience is an understatement," she shares. "But Gunnar has always been a very expressive doggie, quite vocal, even back when he was just a puppy. Honestly, I’m really not all that surprised he’s gone and done something viral - he’s kind of been destined for greatness from the day we got him."
Aside from being humorous, Gunnar’s review includes specific observations: he discovered 17 sticks, catalogued 43 different smells (some new), and encountered numerous squirrels. After hours of stimulating fun, Gunnar returned home where he "…collapsed face-first on the floor, slept for six hours, barked once in his sleep, dreamed about chasing a squirrel, and woke up with a leaf still stuck to his butt."
Gunnar winds down his five-star Yelp review with only one complaint - that Hike Doggie eventually had to bring him back home. He signed off describing himself as the "Founder & CEO of Barkshire Hathaway, as well as the Director of Sniff Operations/Lead Squirrel Intelligence Officer, Good Boy, First Class." To read the full review, click here. For more information on Hike Doggie’s services, visit hikedoggie.com.
Founded in 2016 in Golden, Colorado, Hike Doggie is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The brand serves over 800 dogs each month in the Denver-metro area and has participated in over 60,000 hikes with 10 franchisees in six states. The viral review underscores the company's mission to "make dogs as happy as they make us."
