Lost Dog Knows the Way Home

Another amazing story:

by Michael Martinez on Thursday August 20, 2009.

I wanted to write this story last week, but I got sidetracked by all the news about Michael Vick - his return to professional football, his appearance on "60 Minutes," his first taste of freedom after spending time in prison for financing a dogfighting operation.

Finally, I can tell you about Jarvis, a Jack Russell Terrier that got separated from his owner and somehow found his way home. And in a way, it relates to the Vick case because it explains something about dogs that many people forget.

It happened this month while Jarvis was on a walk in the south of England with Vivienne Oxley, his owner. As Jack Russells often do, he saw a rabbit and chased after it.

The two became separated, and Oxley, after searching for him for an hour, finally gave up. Little did she know that Jarvis knew the way home.

According to the Daily Telegraph, he walked a quarter mile to a passenger ferry and got on board for the ride across the Plymouth Sound. The park warden, who had been alerted to the dog's disappearance by Oxley, called to tell her that six-year-old Jarvis had been seen boarding the ferry.

Before she could get to the docks and get him, though, she got a call from her husband telling her that Jarvis was already home. He apparently had gotten off the ferry and walked another half mile to the family residence.

"I just couldn't believe it," Oxley told the Telegraph. "I was so relieved. When I got home he just sat in the window as if nothing had happened."

Amazing, right?

People who want to forgive dog abusers so easily often say, "It's just a dog." But think about it: Here's a dog that had the intelligence and resolve to find his way home - from many miles away.

Dogs and cats are smart, and perhaps that's one reason we make them our pets. They understand us. They know when we're happy or feeling blue. They love our companionship. They know our moods in ways that others don't.

That's why I find it so hard to believe that people can't understand why dog lovers are reluctant to forgive someone like Vick, who clearly had (and may still have) such a cavalier attitude about dogs that he thought nothing of willfully killing them.

(article can be found in its original context at http://blogs.dogtime.com/the-news-hound-blog/2009/08/lost-dog-knows-the-way-home)