A dog who is well-known on social media has made a special visit to the Maritimes. The dog, known as Monty the Cuddle Dog, is a five-year-old Australian cattle dog mix. He’s gotten popular online for his sweet smile. “He does some peculiar things, and I think the main thing is that his tongue sticks out of his mouth because he’s missing a few of the front teeth,” said Monty’s owner Linnea Munro. “One of those videos just went viral on either Instagram or TikTok, and then it all went from there, and I was already into photography.” Monty’s social media presence started as a way to keep up with family and friends but has turned into much more with close to a million followers across all platforms. Touring the Maritimes Over the years, they’ve spent a lot of time in the car but had never been out to the East Coast. “We always heard about the Maritimes. My mom did actually go to Dalhousie, so I heard about Nova Scotia. We have some family and friends out here and just never made it out this far. We’ve only ever gone to Montreal.” That has now changed. She, her partner and Monty piled into their car earlier this summer and drove across the United States before eventually arriving in New Brunswick. “We’re moving through this pretty quickly. So, we didn’t get to thoroughly do a lot, but we’re doing all of the things that are must-sees,” she said. They visited Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick at low tide, stopped in to see family in Halifax, and then made their way to Peggys Cove, N.S. “Peggys Cove was super stormy, which made for an interesting vibe,” said Munro. “I got the little fisherman’s hat and stuff and it made for probably a good photo.” As of Saturday, they made their way up to Cape Breton for their final day in the Maritimes. “We’re just doing the Cabot Trail, doing that loop, maybe a few hikes around here, and then we’re going to be starting heading back to Quebec and we’re going to do some stuff in Quebec.” While the trip was short, it was sweet. “It’s been lovely. We’ve been saying the entire time it kind of reminds us of the Pacific Northwest, which makes sense, because of the coast.” ‘Such a good traveller’ Monty currently lives in California with Munro, but they love to go on road trips. Munro’s first road trip with her partner was shortly before Monty came into her life. “We actually did our first road trip without Monty during COVID because I had to move. I went to McGill in Montreal and so I had to suddenly move out, but I didn’t get all my stuff and then we couldn’t fly, so we decided to drive across Canada,” she said. The following year, she adopted Monty from Forget Me Not Shelter in Republic, Washington. “I actually had applied for a different dog,” she said. “I guess they went with someone else, but they said, ‘Oh, we’ll keep your application on file.’” Not long after, she received a call from the shelter about a 12-week-old puppy. “The rest is history,” she said. Munro is a dual citizen and spent much of her life on Vancouver Island, as well as across the Pacific Northwest region. Her love of travel continued once she adopted Monty. “He turned out to be such a good traveller and such a good car dog,” said Munro. Meeting fans While Munro said Monty wasn’t recognized during their journey in the Maritimes, she learned he has quite the following here. “When I posted on Facebook that we were in the Maritimes, clearly has a lot of fans over here,” said Murno. “We actually did meet up with someone when we were in Moncton.” When they’ve travelled elsewhere, Monty has been stopped by fans before. “We have in the past had some really crazy interactions. When we were in Las Vegas a couple years ago, we were just in the parking garage parking our car and the security guard bikes over, and she just kind does this double take, and it turns out she was a Monty follower,” said Munro. “He was recognized like three times at Yosemite, so there’s some places where they just seem more concentration of people that know him.” As for where his name comes from, it’s not after Montgomery or Montague or Monty Python. “Monty’s name is short for Montreal,” she said.
