A little dog that chased a bus for over half an hour recently became a trending topic on Chinese social media. The incident caused much controversy, attracting thousands of comments and over 65 million views.
On the afternoon of September 4, one Weibo netizen called ‘I Love Your Smile’ (@喜欢你微笑123笑) was sitting on Line 1 of the public transport bus system in the city of Leshan (乐山) in Sichuan, when she photographed an unusual scene.






Posting several pictures of the scene, she says:
“I was taking the public transport today, when I saw this. It made me sad. The bus did not allow the dog on, and the owner would not get off. During the whole travel time of over half an hour, the dog followed his owner. When I got on the bus, he was beside it. When I got off the bus, the dog was still running alongside the bus.”




The incident was taken over by many Chinese media, and was soon shared thousands of times, receiving countless reactions from angry netizens under the hashtag “Dog Chases Bus for Half an Hour’ (#狗狗紧追公交半小时#).
According to news outlets such as the Chengdu Business Newspaper, the bus did not allow to have the dog on board but the dog’s owner was on the bus because he had “a problem”, resulting in the dog running behind the bus for the complete travel time of 30 minutes. It was also confirmed that during the day of the incident, the bus was driving slow enough for the dog to keep up with it.
Many netizens condemned the dog’s owner for being cruel to his dog and not getting off the bus.
But the story took an unexpected turn on September 5, when another netizen named ‘Yellow Woods Take You Flying’ (@黄森特带你飞) claimed that this was their family dog named Xixi.
He expressed his anger about how the incident was depicted by the netizen taking the pictures, and he wrote: “She is still with us and is not being mistreated. We did not abandon her and we were not on the bus! I care about her more than any of you!” The alleged owner said the dog was not tied and would sometimes go chasing after female dogs. He again clarified that he was not on that bus.
He also posted several other photos of Xixi on his Weibo account to prove it was his dog.


But many netizens would not accept the netizen’s explanation: “Do you mean there was a female dog on the bus?” some wonder. Other warned him that his dog would get quickly get run over if he let him roam around this way.
Meanwhile, the female netizen who originally posted the pictures also faced backlash from Weibo netizens, who were angry with her for writing the dog’s owner was on the bus, and spreading wrong information to Chinese netizens and media.
[rp4wp]
The girl directed her response to alleged owner @黄森特带你飞, saying: “So you’re the dog’s owner, well let me tell you; 1. I am not interested in you, nor am I interested in making you look bad. I just care about your dog being safe. 2. I am sorry for causing a misunderstanding, it was not my intention. 3. Thanks for having such a cute dog. Don’t abandon him, don’t give him up.”
By now, the little dog has become famous as the topic has been viewed over 65 million times.
Although the topic initially became big due to netizens thinking it was animal cruelty, it has now also become hot for being “fake news” – originating from one single netizen, and quickly taken over by Chinese media.
In the end, most netizens are happy the dog is safe. And despite all controversy over what information is false or true, one thing that is not disputed is that Xixi apparently is a dog that really loves to run.
[UPDATE] On September 7, another Chinese netizen published pictures of a horse running on the freeway in Kunming around 14.30.






According to media, cars slowed down when they saw the horse so it would not get injured. It is not yet clear who the owner of the horse is.
– By Manya Koetse
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