A dog injured in a hit-and-run accident is believed to have walked almost 200 miles to find the Russian woman who nursed her back to health.
Shavi was left to die by the side of the road after the crash, in southern Russia's Rostov Oblast region last winter. She had been living on the streets as a stray when the driver hit her and then just drove away, Russian media reported. He left Shavi to die in agony with two broken legs by the side of the road, where she was shivering and freezing, but luckily, two passersby saw the animal and took her to the vet, before appealing online for someone who could care for her as she recovered.
26-year-old Nina Baranovskaya was the only person who replied to the appeal, it was reported.She picked up Shavi as soon as she'd had an operation on her hind legs and took her back to her small flat in Rostov-on-Don where she lives with her young daughter and several other pets. Then she helped the dog learn to walk again, teaching her basic commands and playing with her every day. Shavi needed a lot of care and attention because of the lasting trauma from the crash, and Nina had to buy nappies for her and comfort her whenever she saw cars in the street or a stranger.
But Nina couldn't look after Shavi in the long term because she has a small flat and family commitments so she found her pet a loving home with friends 185 miles away. However, just a few days later the dog went missing and Nina had a phone call from her friends in a panic. Two weeks later, Shavi still hadn't reappeared and Nina was pretty worried.
But then, Shavi turned up in an unexpected place. As Nina walked down the road last week she felt something brush her leg.
It turns out Shavi had walked almost 200 miles back to Rostov across unfamiliar terrain to be reunited with Nina, who burst into tears when she realised what had happened. Experts think it must have taken more than a week to make the trek, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.
Nina isn't going to let Shavi go again, and she's now looking for a bigger flat so they can stay together.
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