Dogs Have an Incredible Ability to Find Their Way Home — but the Recent Seven Lost Dog Story Was a Bit Exaggerated
Seven dogs that disappeared from a village in China went viral after footage of them bounding home together appeared on social media. The video has racked up 230 million views, according to the South China Morning Post. However, after further digging, the story is now considered exaggerated, according to CNN reports.
Initially, it was believed that the dogs had been abducted from a village, then escaped and found their way back home. But the dogs were likely not abducted, and may have left the village of their own volition. The story of dogs escaping capture tugged on a lot of heartstrings, but thankfully, the tale of the missing dogs is a happier and less dramatic one.
The dog pack, which included a golden retriever, a Pekingese, a German shepherd, and a Labrador, was filmed during their 10.5-mile (17-kilometer) trek home. The dogs were later reunited with their owners, who had spent days looking for the missing pooches.
Footage captured in China’s north-east Jilin province on March 15, 2026, showed the dogs walking along the side of a highway in freezing temperatures. The unlikely figure of a Welsh corgi led the pack. The Guardian reported that the corgi has been identified in Chinese media as Dapang, which means “big fatty.”
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A Journey of Missing Dogs
A video posted by the local dog rescue center, Tong Tong, featured a volunteer who said she was concerned about the dogs’ welfare after seeing the clip online. It was reported that the dogs had found their way home on March 18, 2026.
A woman who lived in a village near Jilin province’s capital, Changchun, told Chinese media she owned three of the dogs seen in the video, including Dapang. After four days of looking for her pooches, she said she had almost abandoned hope of finding them. That’s when her corgi walked back into the house. She later found her other dogs, which had been taken in by other villagers on their return to the area.
It was initially unclear why the dogs went missing. Some online comments suggested the dogs may have been stolen for resale elsewhere, though that was later proven false by CNN. A later update, shared on March 21, 2026, by the Jilin culture and tourism bureau, stated that the dogs had wandered off as a group, attracted by the German shepherd, who was in heat and had a history of going for walks for days at a time.
How Dogs Find Their Way Back Home
The idea of dogs wandering off and finding their way home isn’t a first. In World War I, dogs were used as messengers to deliver information across battlefields. While dogs’ sense of smell undoubtedly plays an important role in their ability to navigate, there’s evidence that dogs may be using less well-known senses to get around. A 2020 study in eLife tracked 27 hunting dogs as they roamed through forests in Czechia. The researchers noticed that when dogs returned home, they either used the path they had previously followed or a novel one.
When they took the unfamiliar route, the dogs usually started with a short run aligned with the north-south geomagnetic axis, regardless of whether it brought them closer to home. The researchers theorized that dogs may use these short bursts to align their mental maps with the magnetic compass. Other animals, including birds and fish, also use magnetic fields to navigate.
For now, we can take comfort in knowing that Dapang and the Gang are back with their owners, just like Shadow, Chance, and Sassy from Homeward Bound.
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