When Cemal Senturk was rushed to a hospital in Trabzon, Turkey, last week, his little white dog, Boncuk (which means ‘bead” and is pronounced Bon-DJUK), followed the ambulance there. And for nearly a week, Boncuk returned to the hospital to wait for Senturk.
“She comes every day around 9 a.m. and waits until nightfall. She doesn’t go in,” security guard Muhammet Akdeniz told the news agency DHA, according to the Associated Press. “When the door opens, she pokes her head inside.”
Senturk’s daughter, Ayşe Çapkınoğlu, would bring Boncuk home each day, but the dog always managed to go back to the hospital.
“My father took him in nine years ago, fed and raised him. And Boncuk showed his loyalty this way,” Çapkınoğlu told the Daily Sabah. “Boncuk looked around and started to cry when my father called out his name while getting treatment in the hospital room. We were surprised.”
(As for the different pronouns, the Associated Press reported that Boncuk is female, while according to the Daily Sabah, Boncuk is male.)
Yesterday, Senturk, who suffered a blood clot in his brain, was allowed to go outside in a wheelchair to greet his devoted dog. Senturk was later released from the hospital.
“Sometimes I was looking at him from the window of my hospital room and calling out his name,” Senturk told the Daily Sabah. “He was barking and trying to make himself heard. We reunited again. If you show attention to dogs, you will see the same affinity.”
While Boncuk’s devotion to his or her dog dad is amazing, hopefully Senturk’s return home will put an end to the dog’s wandering. But just in case, Senturk should think about getting a locking gate for his faithful little escape artist.
Boncuk is not the only dog who has followed their owner to a hospital. In 2015 a Miniature Schnauzer named Sissy walked over 15 blocks to visit her dog mom in a hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Unlike Boncuk, Sissy actually entered the hospital through its automatic doors. And also unlike Boncuk, Sissy didn’t follow an ambulance there, so it’s pretty remarkable that she was able to find the hospital.