It is said that dogs are the only creatures on Earth that love you more than they love themselves.

Whether this is true or not, it is undeniable that dogs have long acquired a reputation for their unwavering loyalty to their masters.

Sometimes, even death is not enough to stop these animal companions from staying by their masters’ side.

So, for World Dog Day today, hug a dog and read this list detailing five heartbreaking tales of undying canine loyalty.

1. The tale of Sabinus’ dog

Even in ancient times, dogs had already gained a well-deserved reputation for their devotion to their masters.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, a man named Sabinus foolishly made enemies in high places.

The authors Cassius Dio and Pliny the Elder noted that Sabinus’ pet dog followed his ill-fated master to prison and patiently waited outside, oblivious to the fact that his master was being executed.

When the corpse was tossed out onto the street, the dog ran towards his deceased master’s side and howled pitifully.

It then took food from sympathetic passers-by, but instead of eating it, the dog placed the food onto Sabinus’ mouth, hoping to revive him.

When the corpse was eventually thrown into the River Tiber, the dog leapt into the water and prevented it from sinking.

Given how the Romans had epitaphs engraved specially for their deceased pets, one must wonder how many tears were shed onto togas that day.

2. The tale of Hachiko

No list of loyal dogs would be complete without a mention of Japan’s most famous Akita dog, whose statue stands at the busy Shibuya station.

Raised by a professor at Tokyo University, at the end of every day, Hachiko would head to the Shibuya station to wait for his master to return home from work.

Unfortunately, in 1925, his master died of a brain haemorrhage; but that did not stop Hachiko from continuing his ritual.

Until his own death, Hachiko never failed to visit the Shibuya station daily, hoping that his master would return home each and every time.

His unwavering loyalty to his deceased master earned him a place in Japanese folklore and his name remains synonymous to canine devotion.

3. The tale of Kostya

In the summer of 1995, a traffic accident in the Russian city of Tolyatti killed a man and his daughter, leaving their pet dog as the only survivor.

For the next seven years, the dog, whom the citizens had named Kostya or Constantine, would return to the accident site constantly.

Rather impressively, he remained there through hot summers and the infamous freezing Russian winter, constantly waiting and running up to passing cars, as though expecting his masters.

Despite attempts to adopt him, Kostya kept returning to the same spot, taking only food from concerned citizens.

After his death, the city erected a memorial to Kostya which has become a popular site for visits from newly-weds, with the dog being a symbol of everlasting loyalty.

4. The tale of Capitan

In 2006, an Argentinian man named Miguel Guzman died in his town of Villa Carlos Paz.

During the funeral proceedings, little attention was given to the whereabouts of Capitan, the Alsatian mix that Miguel had gifted to his son Damian the previous year.

He was thought to have run away from home, and was thought to be lost or dead.

That was, until a week later, when the family visited Guzman’s grave to find Capitan there, whimpering.

What made things stranger was how the dog had found the gravesite by himself, since the family had not led him there at any point.

While he occasionally returned home with the Guzmans, he would always eventually run back to the cemetery to guard the grave.

The cemetery caretakers took pity on him and fed the dog which could be found laying on Guzman’s grave.

After a series of health complications, Capitan passed away in the same cemetery in February 2018.

5. The tale of Fido

November 1941. Carlo Soriani, a brick kiln worker in Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy was on his way home from work when he spotted a dog laying injured in a ditch.

Taking pity on the dog, he took it home with him that night and nursed him back to health.

Soriani and his wife named the dog, Fido, a name derived from the Latin word “fidelis” which means faithful.

Without fail, for the next two years, Fido would wait every day at the bus stop to meet and greet his master returning from work before heading home together.

Unfortunately, the Second World War hit home, rather literally, when in 1943, Soriani was killed during a bombing raid on his workplace.

Fido went to the bus stop as usual, but when Soriani did not appear, Fido went home; only to return to the bus stop the next day and the day after.

Until his death in 1958, Fido never once failed to visit the bus stop every day, keeping watch and sniffing the air, eagerly waiting for his master to return.

The locals eventually caught onto his vigil and in 1957, the mayor awarded him a gold medal with Soriani’s wife’s approval.

The dog would pass away at the bus stop still waiting for his master; he would be laid to rest next to Soriani.

His devotion is immortalised by a statue of him with the inscription, “A Fido, Esempio di Fedeltà (To Fido, Example of Loyalty).”