Impossible Journeys

From the time of Shakespeare to our own century, dogs have made impossible journeys alone. They have walked up to 3000 miles, crossing rivers, mountains and deserts to find their home again. Some have managed to find a beloved owner or family in a completely unknown place. Others have walked miles to lie on the grave of a dead owner or child, despite never having visited the cemetery before. Many dogs made impossible journeys for the love of just one child. Blind dogs walked home alone. Dogs wrongly left for dead dug themselves out of their graves and walked home.

An army dog named Bruce made 2100 miles back home to Texas in 21 days, whilst a little Pomeranian named Pietrino trekked 800 miles across mountains and rivers from Vienna to his owner in the south of France. In the 1930s a collie called Rags ran 1500 miles back to Dallas for a little girl, Georgie, whom he had known before his family relocated. Several American dogs crossed the entire continent from coast to coast.

And this is not all. Dogs navigated using trains, boats and ships. They crossed the Atlantic to get home. In 2002 a Labrador named Todd battled wild seas and changed direction in the water to paddle up a river to his New Forest village. Meanwhile, from the 19th to the 21st centuries, injured dogs have walked themselves to the vet, or into hospital casualty rooms for treatment.

How did any of them know where to go?

This question still baffles scientists, and applies also to birds, reptiles, pigs, cows, horses and cats. This book will change the way you think about dogs and animals. No epic song of love, and no television tough guy could ever match what these pets did. These dogs walked like we talk. In the process they reinvented and redefined love, family and home.