China's "Most Loyal Dog" Waits Outside for Owner for 4 Years

A Chongqing dog, known as Wang Cai, has gone viral on the Chinese internet with 1.3 million views on Youku in less than 24 hours. Wang Cai has spent the last four years waiting outside the doors of a local bank from 9am until 5pm, moving little, not accepting food, and chasing away other dogs from his “roost.”

Nobody knows just when exactly Wang Cai began his daytime vigil in front of the Minsheng bank, but one street sweeper has seen the dog nearly everyday for the past two years. A bank security guard also reported seeing the dog, but noted that he seldom saw it waiting after 5pm. Many pedestrians who frequented the area assumed the dog was homeless until they noticed it was clean everyday, would wear fashionable winter “jackets” and had his hair trimmed in the summertime.

Wang Cai does indeed have a home, and his daily 9-5 vigil just so happens to coincide with his owner’s schedule, who works nearby. Wang Cai was once homeless, and was found wandering outside 4 years ago when he was adopted by his new family — a possible explanation for his outdoorsy personality. Henceforth he accompanies his owner to work in the morning, waits stoically for 8 hours, and returns in the evening. The owner isn’t quite sure if Wang Cai is waiting for him or a previous master, but is satisfied with the situation regardless.

Chinese are regarding Wang Cai as a Sinofied Hachiko, the famous faithful Japanese Akita who waited outside the Shibuya Train Station in Odate for his deceased owner for nearly a decade. Though Hachiko died in 1935, his memory and testament to the faithfulness of dogs lives on — most recently in a 2009 Hollywood drama starring Richard Gere.