Here’s a story about what true loyalty means: 6 dogs who have been living on the streets with their owner, Luiz, who has been homeless for 20 years, chased after an ambulance for miles and then spent days in front of the hospital where Luiz was taken after suffering a stroke.
According to NGO Amigos de Patas Cianorte, speaking with G1 Globo, the dogs have been reunited with Luiz, but not before their story made headlines all over the world. The dogs would simply not leave their owner’s side – even after he was discharged from the hospital and left through the back door.
Luiz suffered a stroke and was taken with an ambulance to the Santa Casa Hospital in Cianorte, Brazil. The dogs chased after the emergency vehicle for many miles and then positioned themselves in front of the emergency entrance, howling. Video shot by Amigos de Patas and posted on G1 shows them pacing to and fro at the hospital, restless and agitated.
“The dogs were desperate,” volunteer Simone Zilane says. “They followed the ambulance, racing after it down the roads and arrived just as Luiz was being taken into the hospital. They went mad as they took him in and howled non-stop at the entrance. After a while they lay down on the ground and refused to leave.”
Though Luiz was discharged the next day, the dogs remained at the hospital a few days more. That’s because Luiz exited through the back entrance, so the dogs thought he was still inside. They only left when their owner was well enough to travel back to the hospital and collect them.
According to Zilane, another NGO has rented a small place for Luiz to live but he refuses to move there, or be parted with his dogs. He’s been on the streets for over 2 decades and has mental issues, for which he refuses treatment.
Luiz says his home is on the streets and his dogs are his family. The animals feel the same, already escaping from a kennel to find him and be with him. “Wherever he is you can guarantee the dogs are never very far away,” Zilane says. Even if that means chasing after a speeding ambulance.
Luiz suffered a stroke and was taken with an ambulance to the Santa Casa Hospital in Cianorte, Brazil. The dogs chased after the emergency vehicle for many miles and then positioned themselves in front of the emergency entrance, howling. Video shot by Amigos de Patas and posted on G1 shows them pacing to and fro at the hospital, restless and agitated.
“The dogs were desperate,” volunteer Simone Zilane says. “They followed the ambulance, racing after it down the roads and arrived just as Luiz was being taken into the hospital. They went mad as they took him in and howled non-stop at the entrance. After a while they lay down on the ground and refused to leave.”
Though Luiz was discharged the next day, the dogs remained at the hospital a few days more. That’s because Luiz exited through the back entrance, so the dogs thought he was still inside. They only left when their owner was well enough to travel back to the hospital and collect them.
According to Zilane, another NGO has rented a small place for Luiz to live but he refuses to move there, or be parted with his dogs. He’s been on the streets for over 2 decades and has mental issues, for which he refuses treatment.
Luiz says his home is on the streets and his dogs are his family. The animals feel the same, already escaping from a kennel to find him and be with him. “Wherever he is you can guarantee the dogs are never very far away,” Zilane says. Even if that means chasing after a speeding ambulance.