Eight golden retriever puppies were handed to volunteers, one by one, beginning a two-and-a-half-year journey that started in grief and now moves forward on small paws. At Helping Paws, this new litter has a name with weight behind it: Guided by Gilbert.
The litter honors Gilbert, the Hortman family’s golden retriever, who was shot on June 14, 2025, and had to be put down. In the year since, Helping Paws has become one of the places where people directed their sorrow and their support. The organization says it received hundreds of cards, flowers, and messages after Melissa Hortman, Mark Hortman, and Gilbert were killed last year.
Now that support has taken a more tangible shape. The eight puppies in the Guided by Gilbert litter, all named with a “G” in Gilbert’s honor, have been handed off to volunteers who will help prepare them as future service dogs. The names mentioned publicly include Ginger, Gertie, and Gus. Helping Paws Executive Director Alyssa Golob said, “The legacy of Gilbert and Melissa and Mark will be carried on through these fluffy, wonderful, four-legged friends that are going to change somebody’s life.”
The story reaches back further than Gilbert. About 10 years ago, the Hortman family was already deeply connected to Helping Paws through another dog, Minnie. Sophie Hortman helped raise and train Minnie while she was in high school. Earlier this month, she saw Minnie again for the first time in nearly a decade, alongside Minnie’s handler, Army veteran Aric Elsner.
That reunion mattered because Minnie’s impact was never abstract. Sophie Hortman has said Minnie was a steady companion during her own mental health struggles in high school. Later, Minnie went on to work with Elsner, who served 25 years in the military and had multiple deployments. Describing what Minnie changed for him, Elsner said, I started getting out in public again and got a lot of pieces back that, you know, my life that was really missing. He also said Minnie would respond when he was having a bad dream at night by bumping him.
For the Hortman family, that kind of outcome seems to have deepened a bond that was already personal. Mark Hortman helped finish Minnie’s training after Sophie left for college. Melissa Hortman later trained Gilbert through Helping Paws. Gilbert did not complete service-dog training; Sophie Hortman said he was really car sick, and the family also said he was too friendly for the work. He became the family pet instead.
Even so, the connection held. Jordy Stradtman, a foster home trainer at Helping Paws, said Melissa and Mark Hortman lived about two blocks from her house. The new puppies were born to Petra, and Stradtman said Petra is Gilbert’s niece. Local reporting has also said the puppies have moved into host homes as their early training begins, the first long stretch in a process that Helping Paws says will take about two and a half years.
In the months after the killings, Helping Paws says the public response did more than fill mailboxes. More volunteers stepped forward wanting to raise service dogs. The organization also worked with Sophie and Colin Hortman to create the Hortman Heroes Fund. Helping Paws says the fund supports programs that place service dogs with veterans and first responders coping with PTSD.
Support also reached the state level. This spring, Minnesota lawmakers led by Rep. Robert Bierman approved a $200,000 grant to support the Guided by Gilbert litter. That means the legacy attached to Gilbert’s name is not just ceremonial. It is tied to puppies being raised right now, volunteers giving years of time, and future placements Helping Paws says are intended to help people who have sacrificed for their communities and country.
Sophie Hortman once explained why her family stayed committed to the organization in plain terms: What they’re doing here is incredible work. It is changing lives. It’s changing lives of the people who volunteer. It’s changing lives of the folks who receive service dogs and work with them for the rest of their lives. It’s something I’m incredibly proud to be part of.
That may be the clearest way to understand why this litter matters. Minnie once helped restore pieces of a veteran’s life. Now, as Ginger, Gertie, Gus, and the rest of the Guided by Gilbert puppies settle into the hands of the people raising them, Gilbert’s name moves forward too quietly, and into someone else’s future.
Have you ever adopted a dog with a story like this? Share it in the comments.
By Jake Patterson — Freelance feature writer and former animal-shelter volunteer focused on rescue, adoption, and second-chance dog stories.
