'She chose her human and never looked back': Backpacker traveling across India by foot finds a home for stray puppy, but ends up adopting her after she escapes "home" twice to find him

Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager

May 2, 2026 8:15 AM EDT

Have you ever seen a dog more loyal than Butter?

All pets are good pets, we're not here to judge, but you really won't find a pet more loyal than a dog. They don't care how much money you have in your bank account or what kind of job you have - they just care about being with you. And none of this is more apparent than with our Indie dog below, Butter.

A backpacker found her on his trip hiking through India, and realizing a dog wasn't meant for his nomadic journey, he found a family to adopt Butter (she was still a puppy back then), and he moved on. However, Butter said "Don't leave me behind!" and escaped her home to find him, running over 15 kilometers to find him… twice. If that's not loyalty, we don't know what is!

Accepting that he and Butter were meant to be together, he adopted her and took her with him on his journey across India. They walked over 15,000 kilometers together, sleeping in nature, under bridges, and meeting all sorts of people who fell in love with both of them time and time again.

We really don't deserve dogs, but the world really deserves to know Butter's story.

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Even just by looking at her face as a puppy, we can tell that she was a troublemaker from the get-go. Sure, she looks so sweet and nice, but it's those puppies that you have to look out for - they always end up being the most mischievous ones in the end.
We adopted our doggo when she was a puppy about that age as well. She was the quiet one, very soft and shy. Now, as an adult, she loves to talk back to us. We like to joke that she must have some husky in her DNA, because she has a lot to say…. about every single decision we make.
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You can't really get a much clearer sign than a dog escaping a pawfectly good home to find you when you were kilometers away more than once. That's not really what we would call “subtle”. Butter knew what she wanted, and she wasn't about to let her human slip away between her paws if she could do anything about it. And we're glad she did!
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