Someone made a meme out of a shot from Mackenzie Makatche’s Instagram account – thankfully, it was a good one.
Makatche and her mother, Diedre, like the massive, bear-like Newfoundlands and have been adopting them for years.
Dierdre, in fact, had wanted to launch a therapy dog group that would visit hospital patients.
Unfortunately, Diedre was the first patient the Newfoundlands had to comfort after she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2016.
Makatche created an Instagram account for her “Newf Crew” to document the family’s travels with the dogs and to highlight the challenges of Diedre’s illness.
The crew now has over 57.8k followers on Instagram, and she’s shared over 3000 photographs!
“I thought, since there’s this crowd here, I may as well check if anyone wants to send up some prayers for her.” “The fact that people cared meant a lot to my mother,” Makatche told the Philadelphia Inquirer last year.
Diedre sadly died away in April of this year. Her daughter, who was also her caretaker, was by her side.
Makatche thanked everyone for allowing her to share her story as a daughter and dog-wrangler as the Instagram following hit 50,000 admirers in October of 2019:
“I’ve found a much-needed and unexpected outlet for my overwhelming thoughts regarding the loss and grief process of the most significant person in my life, my mother, thanks to you.”
The “Crew” now consists of 9 giant (as if there were any other kind) Newfoundlands!
Coeli, Duncan, Belle, Oliver, Aisling, Storm, Skyy, Murphy, and Guinness are their names.
Makatche breeds her dogs and uses social media to keep the public informed about the process.
The puppies are being trained as therapy dogs, with the ultimate objective of realizing her mother’s ambition of establishing a non-profit Newfoundland therapy club.
Makatche seems to be proud of the iconic shot that became a meme as she raises her furry family.
Despite the fact that she spent a lot of time, money, and effort raising nine dogs, she claims that they were the ones who helped her get over her loss.
Despite being social media stars, the furry family is now advertising various items on Instagram as pup-influencers and attempting to maintain social distance.
