There's a folk belief that when a dog knows it's about to die, it will secretly leave home and find a place where its owner can't find it to die quietly. The reason for doing this is probably to avoid causing its owner grief, which is truly heartbreaking!
On June 2nd in Zaozhuang, Shandong, a netizen had a dog that they had owned for 20 years. They usually kept it chained up in the yard to guard the house. Because of its age, the dog had become hard of hearing and had poor eyesight, much like a human, and walked unsteadily. That morning, when the netizen went to feed it, they found the dog was gone; only the leash remained on the ground! The netizen searched the area around the house but couldn't find the dog.
Considering it was already 20 years old, I guessed it most likely ran away and hid! It turns out the dog could escape its leash; it just didn't want to leave! This story resonated with many others, with some saying their own dogs also thought they were going to die and went out on their own, but after being found and treated, they recovered.
Some people even took their sick dogs to human clinics when there were no pet hospitals, and they got cured! If only every dog could be so lucky!
