Loyal dog walks 125 miles to find owner who rejected her

The following story highlights the character that most people admire about dogs – their unwavering loyalty.

A one-year-old Bullmastiff named Maru is currently making headlines for her incredible show of this trait. The dog was bought by a couple in Krasnoyarsk from Alla Morozova’s kennel in Novosibirsk when she was just five months old.

However, six months later, the woman called Alla and told her that she was “allergic” to the animal and asked for her to take the dog back.

“I never give up my puppies and when a dog is bought, it is stipulated that the owners should inform me if they do not need a dog anymore,” Alla said.

Arrangements were made to bring Maru back to the kennel where she came from via train. An attendant had agreed to care for her en route to Novosibirsk. But on the day of her supposed return to her first home, it was made known that the dog had other plans.

About 200 kilometers into the journey, the train stopped at a small station near Achinsk. It was believed that the noise of the train frightened Maru, so she escaped from it and “jumped out like a bullet.”

“The dog jumped on the compartment door, kicked the handle to open it, and almost threw the conductor out of the way.”

Maru jumped out into the night into the taiga (swampy Siberian forest). It was only a brief train stop, and when the attendant shouted for her, she didn’t return. The attendant called her previous owners to ask for their help in searching for the dog, but they refused. Alla said that “the owners were not upset at all.”

“They gave the dog away and the load fell off their shoulders,” she said.

After two and a half days, the dog was finally found in an industrial area of Krasnoyarsk – the town where her former owners lived. Alla said that the dog was very fortunate not to have been attacked by bears and wolves in the wild forest. She suspected that Maru followed the Trans-Siberian railway track on her way back and would have reached home if not for her injuries.

Incredibly, Maru endured a distance of 125 miles, but this tedious journey left her paws damaged and her muzzle broken. When volunteers found her, they said she was exhausted and appeared to have tears in her eyes. The tired pet fell down a railway embankment before she was rescued.

To have made it back to Krasnoyarsk meant that Maru had an amazing sense of direction.

“She did not run to Novosibirsk, she wanted to go back where she lived. It is surprising that she went the right way. Geographically, she had no reference points at all. In the city she used to walk only in the yard, she never went anywhere else,” Alla said.

Alla’s friend Alyona Makhova drove Maru back to the kennel in Novosibirsk where she is reunited with her mother and father.

We’re hoping that as Maru’s story goes around, she will find a responsible owner that will give her what she truly deserves – a loving family who will not abandon her and a forever home.