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A Be Like Baxter bumper sticker resting against a large outdoor mural of colourful letters spelling WE LOVE HOUSTON
A Be Like Baxter bumper sticker laid diagonally across a vintage print of the Eiffel Tower
A Be Like Baxter bumper sticker on the wall of an old wooden barn in a green alpine valley, with mountains and a lake behind it
A Be Like Baxter bumper sticker on the rear window of a white car in a garage

Houston. Paris. The Alps. A garage nobody could find on a map.

It's already out there. Be part of it.

He greeted every stranger like a friend. Let's do the same.

Our Mission

Inspired by one good dog

Greeting every stranger like a friend

Kindness over division

Who was Baxter?

"He only saw a living, breathing person that needed to be greeted with love and affection — anybody with a breathing heart got the same warm embrace, without judgement."

— from the founder's manifesto

Baxter was a 35-pound Wheaten Terrier famous for the "Wheaten Greeting" — leaping off all four legs to hug every single person he met. Friend or stranger, it made no difference.

Read Baxter's Story →


See the person

Not a label, not a side, not a stereotype — just someone navigating this challenging thing called life.


Look for what we share

Find the commonality first, before hunting for differences.


Lead with love

Greet strangers the way Baxter did: warmly, before you know a single thing about them.

Baxter lying on a tile floor, head tilted up mid-greeting

Take the pledge. Pass it on.

It costs nothing and takes a minute: promise to greet strangers like friends, skip the labels, and look for the good in everybody.

Russ sitting in a camp chair holding a mesquite bowl, with Baxter on his lap

A sister project

Baxter Blue Woodworks — handcrafted items for the home

The woodshop carries his name too. Russ turns bowls, vessels, and platters one at a time on a lathe in Montgomery County, Texas — and Baxter supervised from the shop floor for years.

It also gives the way Baxter did, without waiting to be asked: 80% of everything the shop sells goes straight to local charities.

Visit the woodshop