In Trabzon, Turkey, while owner, Cemal Senturk, was being treated at Ozel Karadeniz Medical Parka for undisclosed reasons, his dog, Boncuk, patiently waited outside for the emergence of her beloved owner. She followed the ambulance and from there, visited each day for almost a week in hopes to see him.
“Boncuk” can translate to the Turkish term for “bead.” It is an endearing term and possibly the reason why she was named “Boncuk” to begin with.
According to Senturk’s daughter, Ayur Egeli, Boncuk, a small dog, ran from her home home to see her owner. Muhammet Akdeniz, the hospital security guard, emphasized this when he said that the furry bud came everyday around 9 am. She apparently left only when nightfall came.
She won the hearts of passerby and hospital staff, some who chose to feed her while she quietly waited near the front of the hospital doors.
In a video from The Guardian, Boncuk sits securely outside, patiently for her owner. She never goes inside; at most, she sticks her head in. Upon seeing her owner, she jumps in jubilance and even gnaws at her owner’s shoes.
This kind of patience is reminiscent of the story of Hachiko, a Japanese Akita belonging to a professor named Hidesaburo Ueno, who waited loyally for him every day when he came back from work. This didn’t stop when his owner passed away; Hachiko continued to wait for him for more than nine years until his death in 1935. A statue stands in the incredibly busy Shibuya Station as an eternal testament to the dog’s loyalty.
There is something to smile about at the happy ending Boncuk got with her owner through her understanding that her owner was bound to come out of the hospital doors.
According to an issue on dog-human companionship from the “Journal of Business Research,” there are health benefits to owning a dog and these include the lowering of blood pressure and decrease in other issues like heart disease to depression. But the authors Michael J. Dotson and Eva M. Hyatt also shed light on the benefits to keeping these sweet furballs. They mention one dimension called the Symbiotic Relationship that describes the owner feeling safer and calmer while the dog is also treated as a child or person who is fed for and psychologically nurtured.
It seems evident that through Boncuk’s desire to see her owner everyday, they must have had an immensely strong relationship to begin with.
