Posted on 07/07/2015 11:10:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
After running off at the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, a dog walked 35 miles to reunite with its owner. NBC 7's Greg Bledsoe has their story.
Ping
That’s touching.
Of course, a cat just goes to the nearest house and charms his way in. Yeah, dogs are so much smarter. /jk
As best I can tell, the dog smelled my mother in-law on her car. He never really cared much for her, but in his search for me he settled on camping out on her scent until I showed up. Either that or my mother in-law stole my dog, took him for a ride and tried to dump him out of the car? That was not uncharted behavior for her.
We had a cat that disappeared for about 3 months. One day my mom yelled, ‘Look who’s back!’ He had a broken back leg and had lost a lot of weight. The vet splinted his leg and he recovered to live a normal life.
My first thought was, well this dog finds his owner 35 miles away. Maybe the owner was trying to lose him. But this story is different. She was not trying to lose her dog. The owner’s mistake was walking the dog off leash. Many theorize that dogs, cats and birds rely on magnetic vibrations from the earth’s poles to help figure out where they are. No one really knows how this happens. Sometimes the reunion takes place many years later.
That is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.
I had a Golden Retriever that I adopted from a Rescue organization. He had been found running as a stray 100 miles south of me. We adopted him and loved him to pieces. He seemed quite happy with us. He’d been with us a couple of months when we took a trip to our son’s home 700 miles south of us and we took the dog.
Our dog was very agitated when we set off in the car, driving south on the same highway that he had traveled north with the Rescue organization to our home when we adopted him. He would not settle down in the back of the car, but paced back and forth and stared out of the window, looking nervous. He didn’t lie down and go to sleep until we had traveled nearly 700 miles. Then, he was quite happy and enjoyed the rest of the trip and the visit with my son’s family.
Coming home was a totally different proposition. He climbed into the back seat and settled right down. We made the trip many times (and other trips) and he never exhibited the same symptoms again. He was always a good traveler for all the the years we had him. We always thought that he was worried that we were taking him back to an unhappy situation.
He’s been gone 2 years, now, (cancer) and I miss him like crazy. :(
Most Labs dont need to be on a leash to remain around the other local pack members.
I wonder if you can make anything of this as well? We used to have a summer home on a lake about 100 miles from our regular home. My parents also had a summer home in the same area and a home at the Jersey Shore. When we drove, the dogs began to nose in the air and then get restless up to excited the closer we got. They could identify by scent the region and locale. We also had an airstrip and a fairly large private plane. When we would fly in, they could also sense the region, although I think it was more based on the change in harmonics from the propellers, pitch change, and reduced cabin noise. Once the gear dropped they would press their noses on the incoming air vents and get excited.
I could also take a small rock and toss it in the lake ten feet deep off the dock or in the ocean surf. The black lab could swim down and get the exact rock I threw in. Sometimes it took him a few dives down. I could see him moving from rock to rock either tasting it or somehow picking up a different scent or taste than the others.
I think a lot of the dog journeys we hear of are just dogs doing an inventory and order of smells in their heads. I think they navigate by scent and waypoints tied to the route.
Good boy
Labs are wanderers. It traces back to the feeding habits of the St. John’s water dogs from which they are derived. They were native to the Atlantic provinces of Canada and were birders and fishers. They would follow the fish and birds along the coast throughout the year for food. The closer the lab is to the base stock the more it should exhibit wandering. These labs will have white spots on any combination of their chests, front of snout and the front paws.
I’m lucky to have a 6-month old pedigree black lab with a white “medallion” on her chest. Great dog but the kids drive her nuts when they splash with their hands in the pool. It triggers her fishing instinct and she goes bonkers.
What a good doggie.
Wow...found her way home, came in through the doggie door and jumps on her bed....”I’m HOME!”...amazing story. She looks tired though.
I have read stories of several dogs that got lost on family vacations and then six months later returned home hundreds of miles away.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video/#!/news/local/Dog-Walks-35-Miles-in-Search-of-Owner/312335661
I believe you are right on all counts. I lived out in Washington State in the mid 1980s in a housethat backed up to 1000 acres of State forest. We had a Golden. My daughter got married and we had a 2nd reception at the house for relatives and friends who had traveled a long way for the wedding.
My dog kept bringing rocks to the people sitting on the deck (there was an unlimited supply under the deck that had been placed there to keep down weeds. These rocks were varied in appearance.
People threw rocks off the deck, into the night, until the wee hours of the morning. She brought every one back to the person who threw it without a mistake until the wee hours of the morning.
My other Golden always knew when we were approaching a friend’s Lake House where he knew he would get to romp on the beach with their GSD and their Yellow Lab. He would get very excited.
Now we have never allowed our dogs to ride in the car with the windows open because we feel that it is dangerous and we don’t like the wind. But, he still knew when we were approaching the cottage — whether it was because the road must be navigated at a slower speed, or whether the woods made the light darker. Or, perhaps he could smell the difference through the car’s AC.
#5 Either that or my mother in-law stole my dog, took him for a ride and tried to dump him out of the car?
Beware that she might do this to you someday!
Oh, the bond between man (woman) and dog.
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