Golden retriever pups discovered secretly holding hands at playtime

Friendships can last a lifetime.

Ask Billy, a 4-month-old golden retriever.

When Billy’s mom, Emily Buchenberger, first brought him in to play with her pups for an hour, she never imagined the little dog would make friends so quickly.

At this time, dogs between 8 and 18 weeks old can have fun in the gym without a leash. Since there were plenty of puppies to play with, Billie could have spent all that time making new friends. But somehow all the golden retrievers in the gym found each other.

«The golden retrievers have a similar play style, so they found common ground right away,» Buchenberger told The Dodo. «You might not have seen 15 other pups because the golden retrievers were attached to each other like glue.»

Buchenberger watched as the golden retriever pups formed a secret club. Instead of running around like the other pups, they held gatherings under various play objects, unnoticed by anyone.

«Most of the pups were running around the objects or jumped on them, but not the golden retrievers,» Buchenberger said. «They almost exclusively played with each other under these objects in secret.»

That was until the father of one of the pups discovered what they had been doing all along:

When the plastic box was removed from the pups, their owners were shocked to see that they appeared to be holding hands.

«We found that they were all calmly intertwining their paws,» Buchenberger said. They certainly didn’t expect to be exposed and scattered right away.» Shortly thereafter, they met again under the bridge to play secretly.»

When Billie is home with her family, she likes to hide under objects and furniture — especially if there’s something she treasures, like a bone or a dirty sock, Buchenberger notes.

The fact that Billie and her puppy friends all hide together shows how much they appreciate each other. And it’s obvious that these pups will remain friends for life.