Touching stories about dog fidelity

There is a great deal of stories about extreme and touching loyalty of dogs. Every dog lover, for sure, can tell his own poignant one. We would like to tell you about some dogs whose stories are famous and almost unknown at the same time.

Druzhok

The statue for the dog nicknamed Druzhok (translates as “pal” from Russian) was opened not so long ago in Blagoveshchensk (Russia). The bronzed dog has weight of 400 kilos and is standing with its front legs on the quay’s parapet of the Amur River looking into the distance. Druzhok became the symbol of fidelity and courage for Amur-people that faced natural environment.

The idea to place this statue appeared during the flood of the year 2013 when the world saw touching frames showing a dog siting in the water that reached almost its neck and still performing its guarding duties. The owners by that time were evacuated but there was no time for pets and the dog didn’t want to leave its house. And the dogs’ owners recognized the fact that their dog was still guarding home only when they saw photo shoots.

Don’t worry, this story has a happy ending, Druzhok survived and is now living with its owners. He even was present at the statues’ opening and was happily wagging his tale when people pat him.

The statue is in Blagoveshchensk on the Amur quay between the Svyatitel’ Innokentii lane and Pionersk street.

Photo: © ampravda.ru, © amur.info

Constantine

Earlier, in the beginning of the XXI century “The Statue of Fidelity” was placed in Tolyatti, Russia. The dog, whose name we will never know, was waiting for his owners for seven years at the very place where they had a car accident. He was in the car during that crash but he was thrown out and was the only one to survive. His female owner died at place and the male owner passed away after several hours in a hospital. The dog decided to wait for them where he saw them alive for the last time. He was chasing the cars of the same model and colour and few times was almost hit by car.

Local people fed the dog and cared about him as much as they could. They called the dog Constantine (as this name signifies “devoted, faithful”) and often compared him with famous Hachikō. Constantine disappeared after seven years and he was found afterwards in the forest nearby. At first, people thought that he was hit by the car but no signs of unnatural death were found. The dog simply died because he was old and when he felt that the end was close he went into the forest to die not far from the place where he lived so long waiting for the return of his owners in vain.

Photo: © dressirovka.spb.ru, © Vladimir Holod

Barry

Barry the dog lived in the beginning of the XIX century in Great St. Bernard Hospice, Switzerland. Like all dogs of this hospice he was trained to find people in the mountains and rescue them from snowdrifts. According to the hospice data he saved 40 human lives when the especially severe snowstorm happened on one of the passes. Barry in company with other dogs was sent to search people who could have been there.

When most part of the dogs returned Barry found a person under the snow and began digging. But when this person saw the dogs’ nose he thought it was a wolf, panicked and killed him. The dog could back down when he was injured for the first time but he kept digging and died as the results of multiple injures and blood loss. Later other dogs found Barry, the person was saved, and the memory about this tragic killing of the rescuer remained in peoples hearts.

The memorial of Barry can be found in Le Cimetière des Chiens in one of the suburbs of Paris Asnières-sur-Seine, France. The inscription on his grave says: “To Barry, who saved 40 peoples and was killed by the 41^st.” The Barrys’ statue can be also seen in Natural History Museum in Bern, Switzerland.

Photo: © getleashedmag.com, © coolstuffinparis.com, © barry.museum

Avgola

This story happened in Greece in Spring 2013. Avgola, the dog of one of the Greece fishermen named Lakis, was always following her owner and often met him when he returned from fishing trip. When one day Lakis didn’t return from fishing Avroga was waiting for him on the mooring. In a few days the body of Lakis was found and Avgola was following it everywhere, even to the church, from where people tried to make the dog go out many times but she always returned. People even tried to tie the dog to the tree with the owners’ belt so that its odour could calm her down and she would remain in the yard. But she gnawed the belt and ran to the coffin again.

Finally people let the dog follow the owners’ coffin to the graveyard and when the coffin was placed into the grave, Avgola jumped down and refused to go out of the grave even when few piles of ground were thrown into her in attempt to scare the dog off. It seemed that the dog was ready to be buried with its owner.

She was taken by the Lakis’ relatives and the dog is still alive but from time to time she comes to the mooring and sits there for long hours waiting for someone.

Photo: © press4dogs.com, © rua.gr

Author: Alena Morgunovskaya