After a cyclist gave her food during a cross-country race through China, Xiao Sa, a little stray dog with a really big heart, followed the cyclists 1,100 miles across very rough terrain.

The incredible journey of Xiao Sa began on the streets of Yajiang, Sichuan province. Zhang Heng, a 22-year-old student from Hubei, was on a graduation cycling trip to Lhasa, when he saw the small dog lying tired on the street. He and his friends stopped to feed her, and the pooch started following them. At first, they thought she was just doing it for fun and would give up when she got tired, but the dog stuck with them day and night, and the guys felt she really wanted to go with them, so they decided to take her along to the end.

It turns out the cyclists were right, Xiao Sa really wanted to accompany them on their trip, and she showed incredible determination over the 20 days she ran alongside her new-found friends, all the way to Lhasa, Tibet. She traveled a total of 1,138 miles, climbed ten mountains over 4,000 meters high, and ran on uphill sections where many bikers prefer to take the bus. The only portion of the journey where Xiao Sa didn’t have to run was on a steep slope in Litang, where downhill speeds reach 70 km per hour, which made it impossible to catch up. So the cyclists made a cage for her and gave Sa a ride to the bottom, where she resumed her journey on foot.

Seven days after they met their small fluffy companion, the cyclists opened a microblogging account for her. Called “Go Go Xiao Sa”, the webpage got over 37,000 visits in two weeks, and about 4,000 comments when the group posted a photo in front of Potala Palace, in Lhasa. Her story went viral, and other cyclists traveling along the same route reported meeting Xiao Sa on their journey. They said she was very smart and never got lost even when they passed through mountains, and never seemed to get tired, even when she ran up to 60 km a day, all uphill.

Upon completing their 20-day journey to Lhasa, Zhang He, the man who fed her in Yajiang, called her “a buddy and a friend” and said he “would like to take the dog home and take care of her. She has been a stray on the road for a long time. She needs a home.” Well, I’m sure anyone would be lucky to have a pet like little Xiao Sa.

via China Daily