They say dogs are man's best friend and this couldn't be more true when looking at this heart-rending story of Capitán, the German-Shepherd mix who stayed at his owners grave for 11 years before sadly passing away.
Source: CEN
On Monday February 19,Capitán was found dead in the bathrooms of the cemetery, after struggling with renal failure. Veterinarian Cristhian Stempels said to Argentinian newspaper La Voz:
The dog had an insufficient kidney that slowed him down since he was 4 years old and for that, he was getting special food that the people at FUPA [Fundación Protectora de Animales] gave him. Sadly, his age and condition got the best of him. We were going to hospitalize him, but he would have died at the veterinarian’s, and so we preferred to let him be and attended to him in the cemetery where he lived and felt calm.
It was reported that before his death, not only did he have troubles with his kidneys causing him to often throw up, but he also had trouble walking having lost vision in one of his eyes.
Source: CEN
Capitán had been a present from Miguel Guzman to his 13-year-old son, Damian, in 2005. A year later, Guzman died, andCapitán disappeared. The family assumed that the German-shepherd mix had gotten hit by a car or perhaps found a new family. However, during a routine visit to pay their respects at Guzman's grave, they foundCapitán.Guzman's widowVerónica Moreno, said that Damien started shouting and the dog came, barking as if he were crying. He then followed them back home, but it wasn't long before he returned to his master's grave. Moreno said:
Since then, the cemetery is the home of Capitán.
As if this story wasn't amazing enough, there was no way of Capitán even knowing where to find Guzman's grave with the cemetery being 15 blocks away from the family home in Villa Carlos Paz. He had never accompanied the family to the cemetery before he ran away.
Source: Clarin
Héctor Baccega, the director of the cemetery said that the dog had appeared there alone and had circled the cemetery until he came to the tomb of his owner:
No one brought him there. And that isn’t all. Every day at 6 in the evening, he went and lay down at that tomb. Capitán went around the cemetery with me every day. But when it reached that time, he went to the bottom [of the cemetery] where the tomb of his beloved is. That dog gave us a lesson. I believe that humans should appreciate more the memories of those that have left us. Animals teach us such fidelity.
Source: The Arch Deus
Capitán was the true embodiment of love and loyalty and will have undoubtedly inspired and touched everyone he met. He is going to be buried in a square near the cemetery and have a monument built after him.
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