Marathon runner Dion Leonard holds a stray dog that followed him during an extreme marathon in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Leonard had raised enough to take the dog named Gobi, which disappeared for days, back to Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo/Weibo of CCTV)
It took Dion Leonard one day to make the decision to adopt the stray dog, but 17 more days to be reunited with her after they lost each other.
Gobi, named after the desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region where she met Leonard, was found on Wednesday evening in Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang, roughly two kilometers away from where she went missing.
"It was a really touching moment when Gobi rushed over to Dion, wagging her tail and whining like a baby," said emotional Lu Xin, 49, a volunteer who helped in the search.
Leonard, 41, was "absolutely delighted" to find the dog. "She has a large mark on her head from an attack but other than that she is still the same Gobi I remember from the last time I saw her," he said in an interview with Xinhua.
An employee of William Grant and Sons, famous Scottish whiskey distillers, Leonard met the 18-month-old puppy in June when he was running in the Gobi Desert 250km race.
The race was held over six stages and seven days. "Gobi and I met on day two," Leonard said. "I was on the start line of the 23-mile stage and she was looking up at me as we were about to run off."
At first the man he didn't believe that the dog would run with him, or if it did, it certainly wouldn't be able to keep up all day in temperatures up to 52 degrees Celsius. But Gobi did.
"For a little dog Gobi has a big heart, she could run all day and would never tire or stop," he recalled. They ended up sleeping together in Leonard's tent. "I fed and gave her water and we never separated."
In those few days, Leonard made a what he called "unbreakable bond" with the dog, and he even sacrificed his position in the race to help her keep up, feed her and give her water. "I could not leave her behind as she had chosen me to look after and protect her."
After the race, he planned to take Gobi back to Edinburgh and left the dog with a friend in China as he went through the formalities to take her abroad, only to be told a week ago that the dog had run out of the courtyard on August 6 and disappeared. The news left him "devastated and heartbroken."
His friends in China did all they could. They printed posters and fliers and offered a 10,000 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) reward for Gobi's return.
Lu Xin, who left her mobile phone number on the posters, told Xinhua that more than 15,000 sheets were handed out. "We especially went to the booths of express delivery companies, where chances were bigger that people may have sighted her."
Volunteers joined the search. The search team grew from two people to more than 10 searching in streets. Some even went out at night or in early morning to look for Gobi.
People called Lu's number to provide help. "I received more than 100 phone calls and text messages, and the number increased as days passed by," she recalled.
Many of the warm-hearted people were seniors, who didn't know how to send pictures. "So we had some false information," she said. "It could have been a waste of time to trust everything we were told, but if we hadn't, we might have missed a chance to find her."
Leonard flew to Urumqi on Sunday, where he talked to locals and did a lot of media interviews to raise awareness, but Lu had almost given up hope by that time. "It was like a marathon," she said. "We have even planned to take some clothes from Dion, so that we could continue our search after he went back with the help of his smell."
And sometimes, happiness falls all of a sudden.
Lu received a message Wednesday evening, in which a father and son claimed they had found a dog close to their home which was almost identical to the one on the poster.
"I asked Dion to go with us and he hesitated," Lu said. "He had been disappointed several times and was afraid, but I am glad he finally agreed."
"She recognized me as soon as she saw me and was very excited to see me again," said Leonard, who appeared no less excited.
Many Chinese web users expressed their happiness and best wishes on Sina Weibo, where, while Gobi was missing, thousands of people had left kind words or forwarded information.
"It was so heart-warming," said one nicknamed Fu. "The little creature was so lucky to have met a good person. I wish her all the happiness."
"Miracles do happen," said another, Aichideyaopangzi.
Leonard has no children and his wife was supportive of him returning to China to look for Gobi. "She is excited to meet Gobi and welcome her into our home in Scotland."
And so is his cat (perhaps). "The cat is shortly going to have a sister to share the lounge chair with," said Leonard.
