The relationship between a postal worker and a dog often gets stereotyped as being a not-so-nice one, but let us tell you that this isn’t always the case. Well, at least not in the case of Gretchen, a sweet German shepherd who couldn’t wait to greet her favorite mailman at the door each day.

The Texas dog was friendly with everyone, but she had a particular soft spot for her family’s mailman, Fernando.

Of course, the feeling was mutual. Seeing Gretchen eagerly awaiting his arrival each morning was always the highlight of his workday.

Fernando absolutely adored seeing the lovable dog every day. So much so, that he began bringing treats along with him on his daily route. He started feeling bad that he only ever brought something for her humans and wanted to let her know she was a special dog to him. Bringing treats with him allowed him to always make sure he had a special present just for his favorite doggy client.

Then tragically, the mailman walked up to Gretchen’s door ready to give her a treat, but the dog wasn’t there anymore. Instead, he found a note that broke his heart.

The note said that the precious dog had passed away, but not without leaving a final request of her favorite mailman behind.

“Gretchen passed away yesterday. She asked me to ask you if you would share her treats that she never got to finish with the other dogs on your route. She always enjoyed seeing you come to the door and was always happy to get a snack from you. Thank you, The Cimino Family,” the note read.

Fernando was crushed to read the news about his favorite route dog. He almost immediately felt the need to share her memory with someone, so he snapped a photo of the note and bag of treats. He sent the picture to his daughter with an explanation of what Gretchen had meant to him.

“Awww, just found out one of my buddies passed away yesterday… Gretchen was a huge German shepherd but she was a teddy bear,” Fernando wrote.

The mailman’s daughter couldn’t help but share the sweet, heartbreaking message about the dog to Twitter.

Soon everyone was sharing in on Gretchen’s memory, with the post quickly going viral. Within no time, it was retweeted over 180,000 times and received a million interactions.

“My dad is a mailman and he likes to give dogs on his route treats. Today he told us one of the dogs on his route passed away and his owners gave him this bag of treats with this note,” read the caption of the viral tweet.

It didn’t take long before Gretchen’s humans, Mr. and Mrs. Cimino, saw the post about their beloved dog on Twitter.

The grieving owners were touched by the thoughtful post and all the supportive comments it received. In return, the kind couple posted a heartfelt message of their own:

“My wife and I were told about Gretchen’s letter to Fernando being on Twitter. I can’t begin to tell y’all how much it has meant to us seeing how much love and support y’all have shown our girl. She was the absolute best. This is a short video of her seeing her mailman.”

They posted the message as a caption to a video they uploaded of Gretchen excitedly waiting for Fernando to come up to the door. The clip only lasts a moment, but that is more than enough time to see the deep bond that Gretchen shared with her favorite mailman.

To see the sweet moment for yourself, watch the video below.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

My wife and I were told about Gretchen’s letter to Fernando being on Twitter. I can’t begin to tell y’all how much it has meant to us seeing how much love and support y’all have shown our girl. She was the absolute best. This is a short video of her seeing her mailman. pic.twitter.com/uK9Y2BtKtO

— DeCuervo (@DeCuervo2) April 4, 2019

H/T: Animal Channel