As Minnesota House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman lay in state Friday in the state Capitol, her husband, Mark, and their beloved service dog school dropout, Gilbert, rested at her side.
The Hortmans were murdered earlier this month in what officials have described as a politically motivated assassination. Gilbert was injured in the attack and had to be euthanized.
The family’s love for their four-year-old golden retriever was woven into their tribute at the Capitol on Friday. Between the Hortmans’ caskets in the Capitol Rotunda sat a brass-colored urn emblazoned with paw prints containing Gilbert’s ashes with his own bouquet of flowers and a portrait of him.
Mourners brought dogs of their own to pay their respects, and a cadre of service dogs and trainees took turns standing, sitting and eating treats at entrances to the Capitol rotunda in a canine honor guard.
About every half hour, a new member of the squad of at least 20 dogs — primarily golden retrievers — would relieve one of their fellow soldiers in protecting Gilbert and the Hortmans.
Gilbert was not originally supposed to be the Hortmans’ pet. The late House leader was training him for Helping Paws, an organization that trains and places service dogs, but Gilbert was too friendly to become a successful working dog.
As meaningful as the bond is between human and pet, said Alyssa Golob, executive director of Helping Paws, “that bond is quadrupled” after the rigor of the 2.5-year service dog training program.
After Gilbert’s unsuccessful bid at becoming a working dog, he became an inseparable part of the family, reflected in a statement the Hortmans’ children shared in the days after the murders, encouraging people to pet a dog in their parents’ honor.
