Grab your hankies, this one is a tear-jerker: a dog has been living on the side of the road for 18 months, refusing the leave the place where his owner died in a car crash.
Cases of very loyal dogs who stand by their humans even after the humans perish suddenly have made headlines before, but never in Greece. This story got out last week and has now attained viral status, earning the dog the nickname of “Greek Hachiko,” after the legendary Akita who visited the train station his human used to depart from for 10 years after the man’s death.
According to Nafpaktia News, on the side of the road outside Nafpaktos, there is a shrine marking the place where a man died in a car crash. Next to the shrine is an improvised shelter locals built for the dog, who refuses to leave.
The report says that the owner’s name was Haris and that he was in his 40s when he died in November 2017. It’s uncertain whether the dog was with him at the time of the crash or how the dog got there in the first place, considering that the site is about 7 and a half miles away from his home.
But one thing is certain: he’s there and he won’t leave. After several attempts from the locals to adopt him and as many times the dog ran away to return to the site of the crash, locals decided to do whatever they could out of a given situation. So they built him a shelter and take turns in bringing him food and water.
According to locals, the dog won’t budge even on extremely hot days: when the weather reaches high temperatures, the pooch seeks shelter in the nearby bushes. At all times, he just lies in the dirt and looks on in the distance, as if waiting for someone.
Back in the 1920s, Hachiko did the same. Every day, he would wait for his human at the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, where the man would get off the train from work. They would always walk home together.
In 1925, the man died, but the dog continued showing up at the station for 10 more years, until his own death.
According to Nafpaktia News, on the side of the road outside Nafpaktos, there is a shrine marking the place where a man died in a car crash. Next to the shrine is an improvised shelter locals built for the dog, who refuses to leave.
The report says that the owner’s name was Haris and that he was in his 40s when he died in November 2017. It’s uncertain whether the dog was with him at the time of the crash or how the dog got there in the first place, considering that the site is about 7 and a half miles away from his home.
But one thing is certain: he’s there and he won’t leave. After several attempts from the locals to adopt him and as many times the dog ran away to return to the site of the crash, locals decided to do whatever they could out of a given situation. So they built him a shelter and take turns in bringing him food and water.
According to locals, the dog won’t budge even on extremely hot days: when the weather reaches high temperatures, the pooch seeks shelter in the nearby bushes. At all times, he just lies in the dirt and looks on in the distance, as if waiting for someone.
Back in the 1920s, Hachiko did the same. Every day, he would wait for his human at the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, where the man would get off the train from work. They would always walk home together.
In 1925, the man died, but the dog continued showing up at the station for 10 more years, until his own death.