Here at FriendshipCollar, we believe dogs are the most loyal, lovable companions in a person’s life. That’s a sentiment Dion Leonard, an Australian ultramarathoner, discovered last year when he encountered a stray dog while running the Gobi Desert 250km race.

For nearly 80 miles, this adorable stray — who was appropriately named Gobi — followed Leonard step for step. The two new fur-iends made their way through mountains, desert, and villages, sharing food and sleeping in the same tent. Leonard even carried her across rivers and rougher terrain. He started the race alone, but found that he couldn’t continue alone without her.

After crossing the finish line together, he knew that they had a bond for life. Leonard left Gobi in China with a caretaker while he returned home to make arrangements to bring her back with him to the UK. While he was gone, Gobi went missing. But don’t worry — this story has a “happy-ever-after” ending.

Thanks to the help of the internet, Leonard tracked her down, and the two were reunited! Afterward, Leonard wrote Finding Gobi, which covers every heartbreakingly adorable detail of their journey together and went on to become a New York Times bestseller! The pair has since gone viral. (Gobi and Leonard even got to meet Sir Patrick Stewart!)

To celebrate Leonard’s incredible love for his pooch, we teamed up with Finding Gobi for the Furry Friend Sweepstakes! Today, we’re excited to announce the winners of the giveaway!

Katie Jaskulski, Chelsea Allen and Larissa Gemberling are the proud new owners of FriendshipCollar goodies!

We’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who entered, and to everyone at Finding Gobi for teaming up with us to celebrate your unique and miraculous friendship!

Love and friendship x

PS — We announce competitions in our newsletters, so if you didn’t win this time around, keep your eyes peeled for the next one!