Huang Huang looking for his master on the bus, a routine that he carried out for over 15 days. Photo: Huaxi Metropolis Daily

Loyal Chengdu dog that searched buses for its master finally finds a home

Huang Huang was taken in by a pet-lover surnamed Xu

Jeremy Blum

Published: 6:55pm, 13 Sep 2013

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A loyal Chengdu dog that made appearances at a bus stop everyday to search for its missing master has found a home.

The yellow dog, nicknamed Huang Huang by bus drivers, made headlines in local paper Huaxi Metropolis Daily when it appeared consistently for over 15 days at a bus stop near Chengdu’s Guangyan Buddhist temple. Whenever buses parked nearby, Huang Huang would hop on board the vehicles and sniff about, sometimes looking up at the passengers. Eventually, the dog became a constant fixture at the bus stop, and both bus drivers and temple management staff realised that Huang Huang was looking for its master.

After Huang Huang’s story was publicised by the media, many praised the dog for its loyal spirit and wondered why it had been abandoned. After a hotline was set up to find the dog’s owner, different visitors claiming that Huang Huang was their long lost pet began appearing at the Guangyan Buddhist temple. These visitors included two women who beckoned to Huang Huang and called him various names, including ‘Hui Hui’ and ‘Men Men.’ The dog ignored their calls, and the women insisted that this was because people had called it Huang Huang and made it unreceptive to its original name.

Huang Huang and his new temporary master. Photo: Huaxi Metropolis Daily

Another man, a Beijinger surnamed Cheng, claimed that Huang Huang looked exactly like a dog he had lost in 2012. Cheng reportedly said that he was willing to fly to Chengdu to bring Huang Huang back to Beijing with him.

In the end, the commotion and competition over Huang Huang came to a close when a dog-lover from Chengdu’s Xinji county, surnamed Xu, adopted the dog. Xu told Huaxi Metropolis Daily that for now, he planned to act as a temporary caretaker, and had decided to adopt Huang Huang to protect the dog from Chengdu’s upcoming cold weather.

“My whole family loves dogs,” Xu said. “I will definitely take good care of [it]… I want to give [Huang Huang] a safe home until the dog’s true master appears.”

Dog lovers on Chinese social media networks and message boards praised Xu for his kindness, and many expressed the desire to eventually hear more about “Chengdu’s Hachiko” – a reference to a Japanese dog named Hachiko that was known for his undying loyalty to his master.

“Thank you for taking Huang Huang in, [Mr Xu],” one member of the online community wrote. “Please update us with news from time to time, and let us know how Huang Huang is getting on!”

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