There are tons of stories out there about dogs traveling thousands of miles to reunite with their lost owners. Pups have incredible senses of smell, and when it comes to finding their loved ones, they won’t let anything stop them.
One pup named Sissy is the perfect example of this.
While she didn’t travel thousands of miles, the way she tracked her owner down she was still in the hospital was very impressive.
When you’re not feeling well, you want to be cared for and loved by those that are close to you.
A dog companion is one of the strongest forms of care that anyone recovering can wish for. One dog in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, knew that its owner needed that special care and somehow tracked her down inside a hospital. It’s the type of story that movies are made of.
Time magazine published an article on the subject of dogs and cats traveling distances to find their owners. They address the science behind the phenomena. This is an area of understanding that is still in its infancy.
When it comes to researching and understanding there are plenty of gray areas. Time has collected some of the more interesting research.
As we can all pretty well agree, a dog has a keen sense of smell. It’s not terribly ignorant to say that a dog’s nose is the key to tracking across distances.
“An eleven-mile distance is actually not terribly long for a dog,” says Bonnie Beaver, the executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University. “If the dog had walked both from and back to his home he’d be following his own scent trail.”
You might be surprised to know how dogs can use overlapping circles of smells, which they link together to find their final target.
“Dogs extend their scent range by moving among overlapping circles of familiar scents—much the way cell phone coverage relies on interconnected footprints from different cell towers.”
Is it possible that dogs can feel and work with magnetic fields?
“There are some studies that show that the ears of most mammals contain iron,” Beaver says. “That may cue them into the magnetic direction in the ground. There’s work showing that cattle, deer and voles tend to orient in a north-south direction.”
Many animals have a sense of North and South. One study showed how baby sea turtles swam according to the magnetic poles.
When magnetic generators changed the orientation of north and south, that also changed the direction the sea turtles swam.
The dog in this video traveled at least 15 blocks to find her owner. Several eyewitnesses piece together the account of a loyal dog’s trip. It’s a heartwarming story.
The dog’s name is Sissy, and her owner was surprised when she learned her dog was roaming around the lobby. The dog’s owner was so happy to see her, and the staff was amazed the pup had gone so far.
Sissy is an incredibly smart dog who clearly loves her mom more than anything in the world. What a good girl!
Check out a video about Sissy below!
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