Husky Tracks Down Dog Dad in Hospital 2 Miles From Home

Zander, a 7-year-old Husky from Long Island, N.Y., crossed a busy highway and a stream on his 2-mile journey to track down his dog dad, who’d been hospitalized for a skin condition.

“We’re in an area where there’s a nature reserve there,” John Dolan told CBS 2 yesterday. “There’s a stream in there somewhere he had to go across.”

His wife, Priscilla, told Fox 5 News, “I don’t know how he got there. I’ve never taken him there.”

When a Good Samaritan Medical Center employee found Zander on a street outside the building, he called the number on the dog’s tag.

John Dolan’s cell phone rang next to his hospital bed.

“[The employee said] ‘You have a dog.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah,’” John told CBS 2. “He’s like, ‘Well, you gotta come get him. I gotta go to work … I gotta go to Good Sam.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t go and get him. I’m in the hospital myself.’”

According to Priscilla, Zander had been depressed, moping around and howling in his bed, ever since his dog dad had been admitted to the hospital.

The couple rescued Zander from a shelter five years ago, where the Husky had been suffering from starvation.

“He will always remember John brought him home from the shelter and I think that is where the loyalty comes from,” Priscilla told CBS 2.

Veterinarian Dr. John Charos told CBS 2 that some dogs “seem to have a special human-animal bond that leads them that way, whether it’s a sixth sense.”

Just last month, a Labrador journeyed 500 miles, from Virginia to South Carolina, to reunite with his dog dad.

Dogs have amazing senses of smell – they have 200 million to 300 million scent glands compared to a measly 5 million in humans – which may have also helped Zander track down his beloved dog dad.

Priscilla took Zander home from the hospital. A few days later the Husky attempted a second visit, but was caught on his way there.

When John was discharged, he and Zander played together for hours.

“He’s my boy, we don’t have any children, we have three beautiful dogs, so he’s my buddy,” he told Fox 5 News.

PHOTO: Inese Aleksa

Laura Goldman

Laura Goldman is senior social media writer for i Love Dogs, Inc. She does love dogs. And elephants and turtles. Along with writing about the loves of her life, Laura likes to play with her two pound pups and tell anyone who’ll listen just how awesome Pit Bulls are.