There’s a reason dogs are called “man’s best friend.” We love dogs, and they love us — sometimes more than we deserve. Here’s a list of 10 dogs that have gone down in history for being loyal and loving. They really are the best of us.
1. Capitán mourned his owner for 12 years.
An Argentinian man who died in 2006 left behind his loving dog, Capitán. Miguel Guzmán had only had Capitán for a year when he suddenly lost his life. Even though their relationship was short, it clearly had lasting effects on the pup.
Every day for the next 12 years, Capitán traveled to Guzmán’s grave and howled for him to return. The Guzmán family was flabbergasted as to how the dog had even found the cemetery. Everything they did to try to get the dog to come home with them failed.
When Capitán died in 2018, he had never missed a day at Guzmán’s graveside.
2. Fido the dog lived up to his name.
In 1941, brick worker Carlo Soriani found an injured puppy on the side of the road in Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy. He brought the dog home and tended to his injuries.
He and his wife named him Fido, which is Latin for “faithful.” The name would prove perfect for the dog. He loved Soriani and followed him to the bus stop every morning to see him off to work. At the end of the day, he would wait for the bus to return and walk his owner home again.
At the end of 1943, while the country was entrenched in World War II, the factory where Soriani worked was bombed. He didn’t survive. But Fido continued to go to the bus stop every day in the hope that his owner would return. He continued to wait for his owner until he died in 1958. A monument to him stands in Borgo San Lorenzo.
3. Waghya the dog loved his owner so much, he died for him.
Loyal dogs have been around for centuries. Back in the 1600s, Indian warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji had a dog named Waghya, which means “tiger.” Waghya was devoted to the king and spent a lot of time at his side.
When Shivaji died in 1680 from dysentery, the dog was inconsolable. According to Hindu customs, the king was cremated. Waghya leaped into the flames with his owner and died alongside him. Now, a statue of Waghya stands beside the king’s grave in India.
4. A Welsh border collie stood over his owner’s body for 11 weeks.
In Wales, a loyal border collie named Ruswarp went everywhere with his owner, Graham Nuttall. Nuttall loved to hike in the mountains with his dog. But when he didn’t return home in January 1990, a search and rescue party went out to look for him. They came up empty-handed and feared the worst.
Eleven weeks later in April 1990, Nuttall’s body was found by a stream. Standing over it was Ruswarp. The 14-year-old collie had stood guard by his owner for two and a half months in the dead of winter.
Ruswarp was weak and sick. He received an award for his loyalty but didn’t live much longer. He attended Nuttall’s funeral and howled with sadness when the coffin was concealed.
5. Zander decided his owner had spent enough time in the hospital.
In 2012, a dog named Zander decided he had had enough of his owner, John Dolan, being away from home. Dolan was being treated in the hospital two miles away. But there was no way Zander could have known that. Despite this, the dog managed to escape from home and travel two miles through mazelike, unfamiliar neighborhoods.
He arrived at the hospital and waited patiently for his owner. A hospital employee checked his name tag and saw Dolan’s name on it. They were reunited, and Dolan was soon able to return home with his dog.
6. Hachiko spent 10 years waiting for his owner to return.
Hachiko was a Japanese Akita who was adopted by Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in Tokyo. Hachiko loved his owner so much, he waited for him to come home every day at Shibuya Station and walked him home.
Tragically, Ueno died from a cerebral hemorrhage while at work on May 21, 1925. But Hachiko continued to go to the station every day to wait for his master. He was a fixture there each afternoon for 10 years.
Somehow, Hachiko knew exactly what time Ueno’s train was due to arrive. He waited there at that time and then returned home. He died in 1935, having never changed his schedule. Shibuya Station still holds a ceremony every year on March 8, the anniversary of Hachiko’s death.
7. In another part of the world, Shep did the same.
Fort Benton, Montana, is famous for its story of Old Shep, a dog that lived in the 1930s. An unknown sheepherder arrived in Fort Benton in 1936 for specialty medical care. Unfortunately, his treatment wasn’t successful. He passed away in Fort Benton.
His body was returned to his family, transported via train. Shep watched his owner go. Every day for more than five years, he waited at the Fort Benton train station. He watched each train arrive, hoping that his owner was on it.
In 1942, Shep, who had grown old, slipped on ice and died. His funeral was attended by hundreds of fans and featured an honor guard. His name was lit up to be visible from the train station that had become his home.
8. Kostya wouldn’t leave the site where his owners had died.
Stories of dogs waiting for their late owners have been told all over the world. In Tolyatti, Russia, in the 1990s, residents noticed that a German shepherd had taken up residence on a nearby highway. He never moved from one spot. The residents named him Kostya.
The pup had been owned by a father and daughter who died in a car crash on the highway. He had also been in the car at the time of their accident. Nothing anyone did could convince Kostya to move from the place of his vigil. He accepted food, but nothing else.
He paid no attention to the weather, but always sat at the same spot or ran by cars, as though hoping his owners were in them. Kostya’s vigil lasted seven years until his own death in 2002.
9. Canelo wasn’t convinced that his owner was gone.
In Cadiz, Spain, a dog named Canelo waited, too — outside a hospital. He loved his owner, who was a frequent patient at the hospital for dialysis treatments. Whenever his owner went in for treatment, Canelo waited outside until he returned.
Then, his owner died in the hospital. Canelo continued to wait — for 12 years. He became a fixture by the entrance of the emergency room, waiting for his late owner. He was hit by a vehicle in 2002, but his memory lives on in a plaque and a street name.
10. Leão’s loyalty became a symbol of hope.
The 2011 floods in Brazil were devastating, causing huge mudslides and claiming more than 600 lives. Four of those were the Santana family, including Cristina Cesário Maria Santana.
Santana’s dog, Leão, managed to escape, but he wasn’t going to leave. Rescue teams saw Leão desperately pawing at the dirt. They dug in the spot and found his owners’ bodies. Thanks to him, they were able to bury the family.
But Leão still wouldn’t leave their sides. He remained by the gravesite, his story offering hope to people suffering in the aftermath of the destruction.
Dogs give us their whole selves.
They live up to their reputation of being loyal and loving even in terrible situations.
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