Unbelievable is right. Very few mammals can "scamper along" for over fourty miles a day for over three weeks in a row and the list certainly doesn't include "little white dogs".

Unless it had a mechainical advantage (such as hitching a ride from a passing bicyclist).

You'd be amazed at the stamina of small dogs. I can remember hiking in the White Mountains in NH with a small Scottish Terrier that belonged to one of the hikers. The hikes were nine or ten miles and involved altitude gains of between 2 and 3 thousand feet. That dog not only kept up with everybody, it was constantly running from the beginning to the end of the line, racing ahead or darting off into the woods to check out something. It probably traveled 3 miles to our one.

It doesn't surprise me this dog was able to keep up.

Man's best friend all over the world.

Dogs, being evolved from wolves after humans started domesticating them tens-of-thousands of years ago, retain their wolf instincts as being social animals who live within pacts. After humans started domesticating wolves, they imprinted on humans as their pact. It is not suprising that this dog, whose great-great-great-great-great-great-et. al. grandparents were wolves would now do the same after somebody fed it. It, through evolution, viewed the bikers as its pact.

Dogs and wolves share a common ancestor, but dogs are not decended from modern wolves. However your main point that dogs are social creatures that want to live in family groups (the pack is generally mom, dad, older siblings and the young of the year) is correct.

That may be true, but dogs and cats have been eating cooked bones from human fires forever, so it's really rare that the worst happens or the behavior would have been bred out. I have given all my dogs chicken with no bad results.

Bald - true story, really fat people have been known to inhale and choke on every food imaginable.

shall we ban fat people from eating, or just ban food in general?

Hey Jess....why just fat people? I have known a few skinny people that have nearly choked to death by swallowing food the wrong way. It happens, whether you are fat or not...Don't be a hater.

Geesh, I know some skinny people who can dump some groceries down their neck. I am not a small guy, 6'5 230# and my 16 year old daughter can out eat me hands down.

Steve, sorry you missed the point as made by Jess.

But I suppose "someone" just had to throw in the "hater" comment.

Making a simple corollary comment does not a "hater" make.

It was a stray dog. No one knows when the last time the dog ate. I was at a park once and they had stray cats and I was eating pizza. I'm not a huge crust person so I gave the cat some crust. Never seen a cat eat bread that quickly. A starving animal will eat any food it's given if it smells right and my hunch is after the second time the dog knew it was getting food from the same source, he decided it's just easier to tag along and keep that food coming rather than fight for food and possibly starve to death.

Exactly my thought! GEEZ! And to answer your question, No, they can't. Sad, isn't it?

Studies are inconclusive as to whether man befriended wolves first or vice versa and now we have what we call man's best friend; aka dogs...either way, this story illustrates that unbreakable bond between man and beast. I agree with Lori w-2777522...except it's 99.999% for me.

I'm with you. Every dog I have ever had is head and ears above 99% of the people I meet on a given day, especially in a NYC subway or bus.

This little light should shine for us all and never end up on the dinner table. Maybe she will change hearts and minds in China

By and large people don't eat dogs in China. That practice is only is some regions. I find it kinda weird though that people get more upset about eating dogs then pigs considering they have about equal intelligence, loyalty, and personality. While I eat pigs and not dogs there is no inherent reason that the reverse is morally different and we certainly shouldn't throw stones from our glass house - especially when it's based on (mostly) untrue stereotypes that can serve to dehumanize decent people who happen to have (a) very different culture(s) then us.

Amen Lori - I'm with you!!

Lori - if only humans couldnt talk you might like them too.

Jessica: My dog does talk and it can spell better than 99% as well.

I wonder what the 99% think of the 1%'er's.... Why must we must always bring politics into these discussions? :)

Lori - I couldn't agree with you more. This little dog was determined to find a home and was an inspiration to everyone around the world. I also like animals better than most people I meet - some of my not so favorite people have posted on this story.

EmilyinIowa

China has been known for eating cats and dogs for thousands of years. It wasn't until about 2010 when laws were being introduced to ban eating them. The only reason why pigs are an exception is because pigs are not seen as a pet by most countries. It's seen as livestock for food. Cats and dogs on the other hand have been accepted as a pet world wide and China is just now looking to enforce the ban on eating them because it is causing social problems.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/26/dog-meat-china

You said it. Wanting to know if they ate the dog after the trip. Not many heart-warming stories on here. Stick to the story or don't post!

State of Awareness:

1. The article says nothing about it's prevalence though I do admit it mentions it's widespread regionally in the north (though considering the sparsity of info on that article I'm not overly confident it's accurate) which is contrary to what I previously have read/heard and what my Chinese friends have said. Even so, just because you find dog fighting in many states, doesn't mean that most Americans condone let alone participate in dog fighting. Even the article you cited shows it's mostly a rural practice and (implies) more out of need then taste - essentially, the ban is being prompted by the urban middle class and elite to control the rest of the population who have less options.

"The only reason why pigs are an exception is because pigs are not seen as a pet by most countries."

That was my point. There is no inherent difference between the two in most ways that would matter - it's simply for cultural reasons that one is spared (in this country). In some cultures cows are not eaten. While I understand why we treat the two differently here, it doesn't make us morally superior.

I discussed dog eating with quite a few Chinese citizens when I was living in Beijing as an American expat. The issue provokes very strong reactions out of a lot of Chinese. Last year, a man passing a truck carrying dogs he suspected were going to an illegal slaughterhouse crashed his car into it, and became an instant hero and celebrity. But the issue remains contentious.. There are more than a few animal rights groups in China these days.

Pandora: "acting like a dog"? Dogs don't brutalize and kill their own species; only we do. The Chinese acted exactly like human beings when they invaded, suppressed, murdered, looted ... . Well, you get the idea.

See Lori's post, above, with which many of us agree.

lupus62 Dogs brutalize and kill their own species and happily have incestuous relations; we are not the only ones who do. But dogs are not homosexual only people are

Lillian, dogs may or may not be gay but at least people don't come up and sniff your butt when they greet you.

I'm pretty sure my dog is gay. I don't love him any less because of it.

Actually dogs that are not living with humans that control their reproductive choices do not generally engage in incest. Offspring grow up and leave home to find their own mates and better than random chance do NOT chose individuals they knew when young (which would be family).

Also dogs feral and domestic do not "brutalize and kill their own species" as a general rule. Large dogs do sometimes injure and kill small dogs due to (pick one or more): poor socialization, misplaced prey drive, accidentally (rough play), or brutal human training regimes. Without the presence of humans, feral and wild canids go through several ritualistic signals to settle disputes within their species before they get to violence. Violence is dangerous and costly because you can also be hurt. Between species, canids will kill pups, chase adults, and in general eject smaller canids from territorial areas (i.e. wolves eject coyotes and foxes, coyotes eject foxes).

Also not sure how you are defining homosexuality for another species, but same sex dogs do form lasting pair bonds - particularly if they live in the same household. In fact there are many instances of lasting same sex pair bonds in the animal kingdom.

My dog has a rainbow colar and my wife and I love him to no end.

Um, NO, READ the article!

There is absolutely no chance that they choked the dogs slowly in an effort to improve the meat. Every slaughter facility I have ever been to does everything they can for a stress-free environment before the kill. The meat in food animals (I'm assuming dog carcasses are similar) suffers discoloration and therefore a lower quality grade from stressed animals. Stress positive pork is downright inedible it becomes pale and watery. Just sayin...

Dinsmo- it's just a silly belief that the more the dog suffers before you kill it, the "manlier" it'll make you and the tastier it'll be. I've seen dozens of dogs stuffed into cages where they have barely any room to breath, with their legs broken and tied behind their backs, before they are brutally slaughtered, cooked, then served on a stick. I'm not sure how anyone could think such a horrible thing improves the meat, but the sad thing is some people do.

I am a huge animal lover - My screen name comes from my cat's name. HOWEVER - it's not just China. I'm not a member of PETA and I eat meat, so don't get me wrong. I'm not a crusader, but the way the US treats MANY MANY MANY animals is disgusting - and EXACTLY THE SAME! The fact that some other countries do not value certain animals as domestics pets, or in my case, friends... that makes them different, not necessarily wrong. We don't venerate cows or pigs the way some other cultures do. Are we wrong? Are they? Nevermind - the Christian wing-nuts will have a sound answer to that one. In my opinion, we're ALL right!

The way ANY culture treats animals they raise for their own purposes, like eating, says a lot about them. And I don't know of ANY country (and I'm not overly informed, maybe there IS an animal utopia out there) that treats animals with dignity and respect.

I agree with both of you.. but there is a lot of awareness in the US about animal treatment and I have to believe a large part of the population (not Republicans of course) take care not to buy items or pets or meat that is raised in atrocious conditions. I only shop for meat at Whole Foods where I can be sure that what I am buying was raised and killed humanely, for example.

I knew politics would come in this some how.

Actually I read a story about a couple that found a stray kitten hiking through South America. The Cat ended up following them and then riding on their back packs along the way. Some cats won't do it but there are a few that will

I thought about that too when I saw her running on the news. But they also showed a part where she was riding in a basket on one of the bikes.

I think the dog was lucky not being adopted by the White House chef.

Jonathan

The dog was a stray and didn't belong to anyone. This means that none of those cyclists had responsibility for the dog. The dog made it's own decision to follow them after receiving a little food. Did you even bother reading the article fully before commenting?

Jonathon, it wasn't their dog.

Obama would be disappointed.