Mom Starts Unpacking Her Golden Retriever's Welcome-Home Mouthful As The Surprises Keep Coming

Alicia Kang had only popped out to the store, but Nash, her Golden Retriever, welcomed her home like she'd been gone for a month. He came padding down the hallway with a big, fluffy white bear filling his mouth, eyes locked on her and tail waving behind him. It looked like one generous gift, which was exactly what it wasn't.

Alicia started unpacking, and the bear came out first. Nash stuck close and let her keep going, as patient as a delivery driver waiting for a signature.

Next came a long white sock with black stripes, and Alicia knew it at once: "My stinky gym socks." Out of everything in the house, Nash had packed her sweatiest laundry into the welcome, which any retriever owner will recognize as a high compliment. And he still wasn't empty. Tucked in there was a small grey teddy with a yellow star, the last piece of the haul.

"Oh my goodness," she managed, still laughing. Afterward she summed it up on @yourbudnash: "he fit 3 items in his mouth this evening!!" But Nash had one more move. Once the teddy was out, he trotted back toward her with the striped gym sock in his mouth again, because a gift that good, apparently, is only on loan.