Boncuk returned each day to hospital in Turkish city of Trabzon where her owner, Cemal Senturk, was being treated
Boncuk reunited with her owner, Cemal Senturk. Photograph: AP
The Guardian-Associated Press in Istanbul
A devoted dog has spent days waiting outside a hospital in Turkey where her sick owner was being treated.
The pet, Boncuk, which means bead, followed the ambulance that transported her owner, Cemal Senturk, to hospital in the Black Sea city of Trabzon on 14 January. She then made daily visits to the facility, the private news agency DHA reported.
Senturk’s daughter, Aynur Egeli, said she would take Boncuk home but the dog would run back to the hospital.
A hospital security guard, Muhammet Akdeniz, told DHA: “She comes every day around 9am and waits until nightfall. She doesn’t go in.
“When the door opens she pokes her head inside.”
On Wednesday, Boncuk was finally reunited with Senturk when he was pushed outside in a wheelchair. “She’s very used to me. And I miss her too, constantly,” he told DHA.
Senturk was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and returned home with Boncuk.