How far will a pet walk home?
GUEST BLOG BY KERRIE DE HAANUntil we lived this story, I wouldn't have believed animals could walk such long distances. But a couple of years ago my Mum was doing her shopping at a suburban Warehouse in Christchurch when she went in line to pay for her items and overheard a young lady in front of her ask the checkout person, "Could I please put this poster of my lost dog on the noticeboard?"
Mum got talking to this lady, who was from the local area, and found out that this lady's fox terrier had been looked after by her flatmate when she was away on holiday.
The flatmate had brought her down to the Warehouse three days before in the car to pick up the flatmate's friend, but as soon as she stopped the car, the terrier jumped out an open window and ran off.
Mum didn't think much of it but took a poster anyway, to put up on a noticeboard. She said bye to the lady and went home, which is 15 to 20 kilometres away.
Four days later, as Mum was getting ready for work, she looked out the window to notice the birds and saw a fox terrier with a red collar zip past up to the front door of the house, then run off again down the drive. Mum thought for a second and clicked: it was the lost dog.
Mum ran out half-dressed, hair half done, down the driveway to the road with the house phone, following the dog. She managed to get the dog to stay, using a sausage she'd grabbed on the way out, and got hold of the lady, who soon arrived and called for the dog.
The lady was grateful. Later that night she and her dog came over to drop off a little present. We learned the dog suffered only sore paws and a little dehydration after a week missing. We can't remember the names of the dog or lady, but this story has remained with us for a long time.
Has anything like this happened to you or someone you know? How far do you reckon your pet would walk if it had to find its way home?
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My cat doesn't have the greatest sense of direction and I think this is due to the fact that we have lived in many homes. In the past when she has got lost she normally somehow finds someone to ring my phone number on her collar but this time she lost her collar. She was lost for five and a half weeks and managed to walk from one end of newlands to the complete other end. She obviously had been looking for her home the whole time as the people who found her said she had only been around for a few days. I'm just so happy that those individuals looked on the internet to see my lost cat posting.
Cool story I am glad the dog got back with its owner and thank god for a caring person that made it happen, especially with all the stories today about cruelty to animals here in New Zealand. It is heartening to read this story.
What a lovely story, its amazing how things like this happen.
Why is it that 'Stuff's Blog about Pets' is only ever about cats or dogs? Does noone in the world own anything but them? Or are they apparently the only interesting ones?
I had a cat when I was younger and when we moved house, to about 10-15kms away (by road), he decided he wanted to go home. We were in the country and there was a huge number of hills etc between us and our old home but he still managed to make his way back about 6 months after we moved. Luckily the new owner of our old place had remembered him and thought to give us a call. We were pretty amazed that he had made it all that way in only 3-4 days. Luckily he settled down after that and didn't try it again!
I've heard this story a fair bit from the olds over the years: back before I was born and when my brothers were just little, our family cat Smudge was great friends with a cat called Sid who lived a couple doors down. Anyway Sid's owners moved house quite far away, can't recall exactly where but it was far enough away that there was motorway between our house on the Shore and their new place. Anyhoo, Sid came back to visit Smudgie and his old stomping ground up to four times in the year after he'd moved, and every time he made the trek he crossed the motorway to do so. My olds and Sid's owners were always amazed at how far that boy travelled, and not just once!
Years ago when I was a kid, I took my dog for a long walk up Mt Kaukau. My mate and his dog came along too. We caught up at Khandallah pools where I had him on a lead but my mate said it would be fine for both dogs to run around. Anyway, they followed us up to the top but then the dogs took off for their own adventure but only my mates dog returned when we got back to Khandallah Park. We searched everywhere to find my dog and I was worried about how angry my parents would be when I told them. So after a long search that arvo I reluctantly went home and told my mum. She looked at me funny and pointed to the backyard where my dog was sleeping in his wheelbarrow (That was his bed, he liked it).
This would only occur with that same mate too, either my dog would come across him in the park and follow him home. Or his dog would run away from home and end up at my place which was only a few k's away but still impressed the dog could find his way years after my mate and I lost contact.
@ anon - yep, they're the most common! But we used to walk the springers (cows about to calve) back from the runoff to the home farm, a distance of about 12 miles. The ladies always knew their way and would waddle along, pregnant as, until they reached their driveway. Horses at shows will return to their own float/ truck if spooked. None of my chickens show any homing instinct at all. Nor do the 'racing' (and supposedly homing?) pigeons that have taken up residence with the chickens ...
My friends cat used to play in the bush next to their place. One night during a storm it disappeared. After many days calling out and looking for their cat they decided it must have died in the storm. It was about 3 weeks later that they heard a faint squeeking noise outside. When they looked outside there was their cat. It was in such a mess and looked like it had dragged itself back to the house. Her claws/paws were a mess and the skin had been rubbed off her arms to the bone. My friends guess that she must have been up a tree during the storm when it fell and was pinned down. She must have been trying so hard to get out, hence the mess she was in. It took her a few weeks to recover but is back to her old self.
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I remember reading a story in the paper about a cat. If I remember it right, the family lived somewhere like Lower Hutt and had a bach somewhere like Waikanae. They used to go to the bach nearly every weekend and take the cat with them. One weekend they went somewhere else, and didn't take the cat. When they got home they couldn't find the cat anywhere. The spent the next 5 weeks scouring the neighbourhood for any sign of the cat. On the sixth weekend, they accepted that their cat was gone and went back to the bach. The cat was waiting at the bach for them. There are some big hills and some busy roads in between Lower Hutt and Waikanae!