LIVE from the Camino "Santiago" the guide - an amazing dog

[BeatriceKarjalainen]

This dog joined me in Vale de Figueira. I thought he lived nearby and liked to walk with pilgrims for a while. Met dogs like that before. But this guy was amazing. Not only he walked with me for over 12 km to Azinhaga. He guided me. Evert time we came to a junction or just a small path going in to a field or something he clearly showed me where to go by blocking the other way. I had to look for arrows or on my GPS but I didn't have to. He was right every time. It was incredible. I called him Santiago.

I said to "Santiago" after a couple of kilometer that when we find shade we will rest. He always ran 10-15 meters in front of me refusing to get water from my bottle and drank horrible water from the ground.
When we came to a junction there was a big tree with a lot of shade. Ha came there first and layed down. I sat on a concrete construction besides him. We sat there for about 5-10 minutes. Then I stood up and started to walk. He jumped up and ran in front of me.

If I fell to far behind, taking photos or emptying my sandals he waited impatiently.

And we rested in the shade now and then. When we came to the point where you can walk the new way on the road or the old way on dirt tracks I was curious of which way he would take. He got on to the dirt track. And there is a criss cross with small paths. He took me exactly the same way as my book showed and the arrows and my GPS route. I was so amazed my my little friend.

I started to think that he might belong to a sleeping place in Azinhaga. Can a dog be trained to collect pilgrims? When we came to Azinhaga he guided me through the roundabout and into town. He almost got hit by a car.

In town he found another dog and stayed with her. I turned around and said goodbye but no he left her and ran in front of me. Right to the first Casa de Azinhaga (they had a picture of a black dog on the door) I rang the bell but nothing. We waited. Then he started to run to the next place on the same street. I rang that bell as well. Not answer. He started to walk towards the next town but I went back to the bar that we had passed earlier and bought me a juice and asked for water to the dog who followed me there. We sat down at the plaza just outside the bar for a while.

A man started to talk to me and I asked if the dog lived in the town. No I don't think so. We thought it was your dog. I telled them the story. He followed me to the Casa to make sure I had rang the right bell. He tried as well. "Santiago" stayed and had his water. I went to the second place again but no answer so I decided to walk to the next town. "Santiago" didn't follow me and I missed him. I really hope he got some food or found his home. I should have bought something in the bar if they had anything suitable.

There are pictures of him on Instagram.

 

[Waka]

What a wonderful story, it just goes to show that a dog is a male/female's best friend.

 

[Cailin O Eire]

Awwww so nice

 

[Mike Savage]

Camino angels come in all shapes and sizes. I am so glad to hear of a helpful dog on the Camino to help balance the stories of not so helpful dogs that show up here from time to time.

 

[Mike Savage]

Gives new meaning to the term "Guide Dog."

 

[peregrina2000]

Funny, but one of my walking partners this year had the very same experience. That dog is now "EU-certified" and will soon be going to his new home in the Netherlands (after an extensive search for the real owners).

I also remember that years ago, there was a dog who walked from some town to Castrojeriz (or maybe it was FROM Castrojeriz to some small town) every day, always with a pilgrim. The well-established routine always brought the dog back to his true owner at the end of the day's walk. Then one year, the dog was apparently poisoned, am I remembering that right?

 

[mspath]

Laurie,
You remember the sad tale well. The dog from Castrojeriz was owned by the proprietors of La Taberna bar/restaurant. The dog's photo still was on the their wall last time I passed.

MM

 

[GettingThere]

There is a lovely dog who belongs to the hospitaliera at Albergue A Reboleira in Fonfria. He's huge - part German shepherd, part mastiff, and much-loved. Also very friendly, and he apparently took to accompanying pilgrims as they set off (or just passed by!). Unfortunately he didn't go back the other way, and his owner was regularly getting calls from as far away as Sarria - "Your dog is here!" (Presumably he would arrive at albergues or other places where his owner was known!). So now when "at work" he is on a (very long) chain. A bit sad that it's necessary, but his travelling habit could have ended badly if he'd got really lost or been hit by traffic. Anyway, he doesn't seem to mind - he still greets the pilgrims, sleeps a lot of the time, and when I was there his best friend was a tiny little fluffy white kitten (seriously!). I wish I'd taken a photo of him - he's an absolute beauty.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I had my own "Santiago the Spirit Dog" on my VDLP in 2011:
http://caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/2011/11/8-days-on-via-de-la-plata-day-two.html

 

[jayree]

This dog (Santiago) joined me in Vale de Figueira.

This story reminds me of an experience I had on the CdN. Below is the email I sent to friends and family.

As we walked to Markena a long haired German Shephard came walking up another path, joined us and followed us on the Camino. It wasn't long before we got to a cafe about 8 km from Deba. The dog waited patiently at the door while we ordered and then he sat next to us outside at a picnic table. Soon other pilgrims arrived and the dog patrolled the picnic area quietly but keeping a close eye for any dropped food. I counted 15 pilgrims, many of whom dropped food, intentionally or unintentionally.

I began thinking about this "Camino dog." Once we had a Golden retriever, Sundance, that roamed free and often visited others around the community. At one point he disappeared for about an hour around 8 AM and again at 3 PM. We knew not where he went. That year several kids came to our house for Halloween. Usually kids never came to our house because we were at the end of a long and dark road. But this year a few showed up.
"Where's Sundance?" they asked.
"How do you know Sundance?"
"He waits with us for the school bus each morning and meets up each afternoon when we get home."
Apparently he did this each day guided only by his internal clock. Later we noticed he didn't leave on Saturday or Sunday. I suspect this Camino dog has a similar routine, knowing about what time the first pilgrims will show up for breakfast, and that he will be rewarded for showing up too.

 

[Juanma]

Hi Beatrice, and everyone! I'd like to use this topic to call pilgrims' attention into the issue with Camino dogs: in our case, we have a dog in our albergue, in Camino Primitivo. We kept it after its mom abandoned it at our doorstep when it must have been about 2-3 months old (this was in early June last year); the mom had another 3 to 4 puppies, which she "abandoned" all in different houses of the area near the albergue. At first we looked for a home for our puppy, but since we coulnd't find one, he stayed with us finally! He's name is 'León', and we are really happy we kept him, as he is a wonderful family and even albergue dog!

However, after a few months, a problem showed up: when he became about 6-7 months old, he started being brave and strong enough to leave the albergue's surroundings, getting every time further and further away, and of course, one day he started following pilgrims along the Camino. This happened in Autumm, when the bad weather started and therefore we (the hospitaleros) started spending less and less time out in the terrace or the backyard with him (he lives outside, and is not allowed into the albergue at all; he has of course a nice, warm closed room where to stay when it's cold and/or rainy). At that time of the year still some pilgrims walked passed the albergue, and, I guess that just looking for some human company, he started following them.

Luckily, he has a collar with a little metal label with his name and my phone number engraved, so the first time he walked away with some pilgrims, a "neighbour" 5km away (Camino ahead) called me to say that my dog was there, at her place! I was so shocked that first time! But then this started happening nearly every day and we started getting very worried and didn't know what to do... The problem got to its worse when I got a call one day at 12pm from someone in Arzua (that is 35km away!!!) saying that my dog was there! We even considered again looking for another home for him at this point, but finally decided for a basic odedience course for dogs: this was very helpful in some ways (and I recommend it for every dog!), but not at all in avoiding the dog to follow pilgrims in their way passed the albergue We also sterilized him when he had the age for it, in order to avoid him walking away looking for 'female friends'

Since then we've tried every thing: we've put adds along the Camino in the first 5km after my albergue informing about León (with a picture of him), and asking pilgrims not to allow it to walk with them, and asking them to give me a call if the dog still does; it has been of no use at all! Most pilgrims (all until now) don't seem to read these adds or to care about them; also most pilgrims (all until now) don't seem to realize that the dog has a collar (and therefore very likely, an owner!) in which his name and a telephone number are written, as I have NEVER yet received a call from a pilgrim; I have however had to drive a few km quite a few times to pick my dog up after he's been following pilgrims who didn't realize or care about the collar or the adds along the camino.

Please, if you find a dog along your Camino, try your best to find where it belongs; some times they are just looking for company and do not want to scape their home at all, but once they've walked a certain distance, they can't get back by themselves. My dog can walk by himself to about 6-8km from my albergue following the Camino, but I am sure he would not be able to get back on his own. By the way Beatrice, I am sure that the pilgrims he's been walking with have thought about him the same you thought about "Santiago": that he knew the Camino perfectly, as if he could "read" the shell and arrow signs along it; but it's not that, it's just that he's done it a few times already, and therefore knows the way perfectly (but only in one direction, though).

This is León, by the way:





And this is the add we've placed along the camino (I think it's quite clear and well visible, and there are 5 of them along the first 5km after the albergue):





Unfortunately, the only way we've found so far to keep him from leaving has been to chain him up at like 12pm (with a very long chain, in our backyard) until like 5-6pm, when most pilgrims have already walked passed; still a couple of times I've had to drive to pick him up because one or several pilgrims have still walked passed after that time and he's followed him/her/them. Of course, these pilgrims have not seen the collar or the adds, strangely...

So dear pilgrims, if you find a dog walking with you, first of all check for its collar (maybe it has the owners' contact details); then ask in near-by houses or bars; if a police station is nearby, take it there, where they can try to read its microchip and find the owner; if none of this is possible, my advice is to leave it in a house, bar or albergue as close as possible to where you found it, as the owner might come looking for it, or they may even already know the dog and can call or locate its owner somehow. We've had quite a few owners of lost dogs from the Camino behind us, asking if their dog has been in our albergue, following some pilgrims.

Bye!,

 

[BeatriceKarjalainen]

Hi Beatrice, and everyone! I'd like to use this topic to call pilgrims' attention into the issue with Camino dogs:
Please, if you find a dog along your Camino, try your best to find where it belongs; some times they are just looking for company and do not want to scape their home at all, but once they've walked a certain distance, they can't get back by themselves.

So dear pilgrims, if you find a dog walking with you, first of all check for its collar (maybe it has the owners' contact details); then ask in near-by houses or bars; if a police station is nearby, take it there, where they can try to read its microchip and find the owner; if none of this is possible, my advice is to leave it in a house, bar or albergue as close as possible to where you found it, as the owner might come looking for it, or they may even already know the dog and can call or locate its owner somehow. We've had quite a few owners of lost dogs from the Camino behind us, asking if their dog has been in our albergue, following some pilgrims.

Bye!,

Thanks for this reminder. I checked for a collar and I tried to show him to turn around after a couple of km. Unfortunately this was in an area where there is absolute nothing between where he started to walk with me and the town we ended up in. Just fields. A man at the bar promised to look after him. I told then where he started to follow me. I really hope he gets home ok. Every dog should have a collar with phone number.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Juanma, I understand your concern, and can see why it's beter for Leon to be out and about rather than tied up. But as a "non-dog person" who is more often than not on the Camino terrified by dogs rather than tempting them to come with me, I think it's likely that there are many pilgrims who will simply have no idea what to do when they have your dog following them. If they see the sign, sure a phone call is easy, but they may not see it.

Once on the Vdlp after Caparra, a dog started walking with me while we were in the middle of a big field. I told him to stay and go back many many times but to no avail. I tried both English and Spanish. So what was I to do? There was no way I was going to go to his neck and look for identification, I'm sorry, but I have two big scars on my knee from a very bad dog bite. So I just kept on walking and eventually the owner drove by.

I don't know what the rules/laws are in Spain, but I would think that loose dogs simply should not be allowed in places where there are numbers of strangers coming and going, whether they bite or not (see Luka's posts on her Invierno thread, dogs were a big reason she left it --
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/luka-on-the-invierno.35038/) I am so tired of hearing owners saying to me "no hace nada" while I stand terrified with a big barking dog blocking my way. I know that's not your dog, but I'm just trying to point out that this is a bigger issue.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I think that it's the owner's responsibility and not the pilgrims'. I am actually in the process of trying to train my son's wild two year old untrained Labrador (it was either the dog or me, I couldn't stand going to their apt. anymore) and I have seen tremendous improvement in the last six days. I imagine, though I don't know, that Leon can be trained to stay and resist the urge to walk with pilgrims.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[tutinegra_pt]

Between Finisterre and Muxia, a companion for 4Km, an unforgettable experience, and hard to put into words

 

[StevethePlanner]

It's good to hear there are some friendly dogs on the Camino. My dog, Dickson, joined me a few months ago on the CP and he produced a video of his journey with his dog cam. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRgFtPAqcOo

 

[Juanma]

Hi, Juanma, I understand your concern, and can see why it's beter for Leon to be out and about rather than tied up. But as a "non-dog person" who is more often than not on the Camino terrified by dogs rather than tempting them to come with me, I think it's likely that there are many pilgrims who will simply have no idea what to do when they have your dog following them. If they see the sign, sure a phone call is easy, but they may not see it.

Once on the Vdlp after Caparra, a dog started walking with me while we were in the middle of a big field. I told him to stay and go back many many times but to no avail. I tried both English and Spanish. So what was I to do? There was no way I was going to go to his neck and look for identification, I'm sorry, but I have two big scars on my knee from a very bad dog bite. So I just kept on walking and eventually the owner drove by.

I don't know what the rules/laws are in Spain, but I would think that loose dogs simply should not be allowed in places where there are numbers of strangers coming and going, whether they bite or not (see Luka's posts on her Invierno thread, dogs were a big reason she left it --
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/luka-on-the-invierno.35038/) I am so tired of hearing owners saying to me "no hace nada" while I stand terrified with a big barking dog blocking my way. I know that's not your dog, but I'm just trying to point out that this is a bigger issue.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I think that it's the owner's responsibility and not the pilgrims'. I am actually in the process of trying to train my son's wild two year old untrained Labrador (it was either the dog or me, I couldn't stand going to their apt. anymore) and I have seen tremendous improvement in the last six days. I imagine, though I don't know, that Leon can be trained to stay and resist the urge to walk with pilgrims.

Buen camino, Laurie

Hello Laurie! I am aware that there are people who are afraid of dogs; if we are hosting a pilgrim who is, we certainly repsect that and, of course, first thing for us are pilgrims, so we keep Leon all day chained up if necessary. However, we have noticed in this whole year with Leon with us that this has only happened twice. In fact, it is a vast majority of pilgrims that actually enjoy very much Leon, playing with him and going for a stroll in Ferreira accompanied by him. Many have shared photos of him in our facebook page and left messages mentioning him in our pilgrim book.

I know that agressive, loose dogs along the camino are a big problem for many pilgrims; but as I always tell pilgrims to mention that to me: "if the dog is loose and he is at the doorstep of his house, then he is loose because the owner positively knows he won't harm anyone; he might bark a lot, but never bite or attack any one". I mean, the owner knows that pilgrims pass in front of his house, so if he lets his dog loose, that's because he is sure he won't cause any trouble. Of course that doesn't mean you won't feel scared when you approach a big, barking, loose dog, but just be confident, keep walking and don't back even one step: if he comes too close you can try and raise your walking pole/stick, which in 99.9% of cases will scare the dog away.

Ok, so there might be fierce and even dangerous dogs along the camino, but I don't feel part of that problem at all, as Leon is a really friendly and sociable dog who doesn't show the slightest sign of agresiveness to any one; in fact, he's been raised among pilgrims and that's who he feels great with. I have total peace of mind that if any pilgrim finds Leon along the way, he has nothing to be afraid of.

Also, I don't expect someone who is afraid of dogs to check his collar if they find him during their walking; in fact, I guess those persons won't care about Leon at all; but again, that is a very, very small minority of people, while the vast majority do like dogs and will immediately notice that Leon is nice and friendly, and if he has a collar, they would usually check on it with no fear at all. I am sure that most of those persons, if they find such dog in a city, would try to attract it and check on the collar to try and find the owner, but for some reason, when those persons are doing the Camino, they don't. In fact I have sometimes driven off when I've noticed that he might have left to the camino, and I have reached him a few kms after the albergue, walking with pilgrims; I have asked the pilgrims why they didn't check on the collar and they always just say thinkgs like "I didn't think about it" or something similar. Once it was a group of about 30 Koreans with a Spanish guide: no one among 30 people really thought of checking on the collar? And the guide had passed by my albergue several times in the previous weeks with other groups and did know that Leon was our dog, but she didn't think of using her phone to give us a call (needen't even check on the collar, as she has our phone in her Camino guide book!). Hard for me to understand...

Rules/law in Spain about wandering dogs? I think if it's a city or town, the dog must be on a leash, but I am not sure and don't care much, as I don't go with Leon into any town, and if I do (once I took him to Palas with me), then I will certainly have him on his leash, as he is not used to heavy traffic and might get in trouble. But in the Galician rural areas there are many, many houses with free ranging dogs, who very often even lie in the middle of the road in front of the house and only move when a car drives by. I don't think there is any law against it. The problem comes if the dog causes damage, personal injury or an accident, of course: then the owner has to face the legal and economic consequences; in our case Leon (and what ever problems he may cause) is covered by our albergue's insurance; this, added to his being a good and friendly dog and his having learned to avoid cars, gives us nearly total peace of mind (accidents may always happen, of course).

Regarding dogs free ranging in places where people come in and out (I guess you mean a public business such as an albergue), we asked for information about that when we had to decide wether to keep Leon or not, about a year ago: in our case it is fine as long as he doesn't go into the kitchen of the dining rooms of the albergue; and in fact, as I said earlier, he doesn't come into any part of the albergue at all, so that's fine; of course, he must also always be up to date with his vaccinations and antiparasites, and he actually is.

Of course I know it is my responsability and not the pilgrims', and I don't mean to blame pilgrims for Leon leaving. I must admit we didn't realize it could happen when we decided to keep him one year ago and it was a total surprise last Fall when it started to happen. All I say is that I don't see any signs of pilgrims trying to collaborate with the measures we take (collar and signs along the camino), and that shocks me very much. I think that pilgrims get in "walking mode" when they start their day, and few things can make them stop You know that many pilgrims seem to be in a race to the next albergue, especially now in Summer. Probably finding out that there is a way to find and contact the dog's owner makes them realize that they will be wasting/loosing time, and therefore maybe they don't bother to look at the collar or follow the sign's instructions...

Finally: as I said in my previous post, we did take Leon to a dog school to be trained, but the trainer already told us from the begining that the standard obedience course would not prevent him from leaving. He said it is very, very hard to prevent this behaviour, and probably the only effective system would be an invisible fence, which we will try by the way next Fall, once the season is finished, as it requires full time attention to the dog for a couple of weeks, and we can not do that while the albergue is open to pilgrims

Thanks for reading!, and Buen Camino,

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

When passing through Castidelgado, we were startled by a german shepherd running full pelt towards us. Luckily (we thought) that we saw he was chained up. Then, to our delight, he spat out a tennis ball at our feet urging us to throw it for him. Of course we did, several times. Looking back, he was lining up the next group of pilgrims.

Had us all well trained!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Bless these dogs, hate their owners. These poor dogs we come across are either chained or allowed to get hit buy cars as many have mentioned here. If anyone reading this breeds dogs, keep these stories in mind when you are asked to sell a puppy. I was once told it was more difficult to get a puppy from me than a mortage.mind you, this was a US prospective home, at the time of subprimes, and I did not sell him a puppy.

 

[smj6]

................ the standard obedience course would not prevent him from leaving. ............ probably the only effective system would be an invisible fence, which we will try by the way next Fall.........

@Juanma, I tried the invisible fence idea on my two Labradors (sadly recently deceased) when they were boisterous young dogs and it was very effective. As they grew older and a 'bit' more sensible, I could then dispense with it. But the fence system was worth it at the time.
Suzanne

 

[Juanma]

Thanks for the info smj6! We believe that the system would be the most effective of all, but because of the shape and size of our albergue and garden it might be difficul/expensive to install it. We'll look into it in November and let you guys know how it went

 

[ClicketySnap]

These stories have been so amazing to read! I hope I encounter some dogs when I am able to go, I will miss my dogs terribly.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

These stories have been so amazing to read! I hope I encounter some dogs when I am able to go, I will miss my dogs terribly.

You certainly will. Here are two that we met along the Way, one walking the Camino with his master from St Jean Pied de Port (he even has a shell on his collar) and another a local who had worked out the best places for lunch.

 

[ClicketySnap]

You certainly will. Here are two that we met along the Way, one walking the Camino with his master from St Jean Pied de Port (he even has a shell on his collar) and another a local who had worked out the best places for lunch.

aaaaah that's so cool! Thanks for sharing!