Loyal dog waits at the subway for its owner every day

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Dogs have always been the most loyal friends of humans, but have you ever met one that waits at the subway station every day for its owner to return from work?

A dog in southwest China’s Chongqing every day has become a local celebrity for doing this, and has gained fame on Chinese social media leading to many netizens coming to visit him.

Chongqing: Xiongxiong waits outside the subway station for his owner to return home every day. /CGTN screenshot of Pear Video

Xiongxiong, a 15-year-old dog, was found outside a local bank by a man surnamed Qin around eight years ago. Qin adopted the dog immediately and, since then, the dog waits outside Liziba station in Chongqing’s Yuzhong District after his owner goes to work and stays there until he returns.

“I’ve been raising Xiongxiong for around eight years,” said Qin, “Every day he waits at the subway station for me to return.”

The dog’s loyalty reminded people of Hachiko, a Japanese dog that lived in the 1920s and was remembered for its remarkable loyalty. Hachiko used to greet his owner at a subway station when he returned from work every day and continued doing so for nine years after his owner died.

Qin usually goes to work between 7 and 8 a.m. and returns around 12 hours later. During the entire day, Xiongxiong stays outside the subway station and waits.

Xiongxiong barks and wags his tail when his owner shows up in the subway station. /CGTN screenshot of Pear Video

As seen on Pear Video, the moment Qin walks out from the subway, Xiongxiong barks and wags his tail, expressing his excitement to see his owner at the end of the day.

“Xiongxiong behaves very well outside the subway station and never eats anything given to him by other people,” said a local resident to Pear Video, “He just waits for his owner here and gets extremely excited when he shows up.”

The story of Xiongxiong has been posted by many mainstream news outlets in China on social media, gaining thousands of comments and likes.

Chinese netizens' comments on the story of Xiongxiong. /CGTN screenshot of Weibo

“For a dog, its owner means its entire life. Please be kind to them,” commented a user @woheqipashiyouderichang on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

“I’m so moved by the loyalty of the dog. The 15-year-old dog might just want to spend more time with its owner during the rest of his life,” said anther Weibo user @kongqingwan.