WEBVTT - Gobi | From This Is Love 0:00:15.250 --> 0:00:20.090 Pushkin. Hey there, folks in podcast land. 0:00:20.430 --> 0:00:23.130 Am I one of the folks in podcast land? 0:00:23.390 --> 0:00:26.220 You're actually one of the people who create podcast land. 0:00:26.579 --> 0:00:27.800 I'm a world maker. 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.960 Someone's got to be pulling those levers and keeping the 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.389 assembly line going. If I haven't already said so, I'm 0:00:35.450 --> 0:00:36.589 Jonathan and. 0:00:36.610 --> 0:00:37.870 I'm Kalila. 0:00:38.310 --> 0:00:40.580 And we're here to tell you... I feel like we're 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.909 about to launch into like an early 80s rap. And 0:00:44.930 --> 0:00:48.789 we're here to say, if you like Heavyweight, I think 0:00:48.849 --> 0:00:52.070 you might enjoy the podcast, This Is Love. It's from 0:00:52.090 --> 0:00:55.310 the makers of Criminal and hosted by Phoebe Judge. It's 0:00:55.350 --> 0:00:57.470 another narrative nonfiction podcast. 0:00:57.650 --> 0:01:01.690 And they look at all kinds of love between people, 0:01:02.190 --> 0:01:05.850 sometimes not between people. This is an episode that's about 0:01:05.910 --> 0:01:07.190 a dog and a person. 0:01:07.410 --> 0:01:07.569 Yeah. 0:01:07.860 --> 0:01:09.920 It's just really cool. I've never heard a story quite 0:01:09.940 --> 0:01:12.680 like it before, and I think our audience will enjoy 0:01:12.750 --> 0:01:13.230 it as well. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.270 So in June of 2016, Dion Leonard attempted one of 0:01:17.290 --> 0:01:22.810 the toughest races in the world, a 155-mile ultramarathon through 0:01:22.830 --> 0:01:26.369 the Gobi Desert in China. At the start of day two, 0:01:26.490 --> 0:01:30.150 he looked down and saw a little brown dog chewing 0:01:30.210 --> 0:01:32.980 on his shoes. Dion and the little dog were about 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.680 to embark on an adventure that would change both of 0:01:35.740 --> 0:01:36.259 their lives. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:36.880 Yeah. 0:01:37.310 --> 0:01:39.650 As the listener, as a podcast listener, you're about to 0:01:39.730 --> 0:01:42.590 embark on an adventure that, would you say, I don't know, 0:01:42.650 --> 0:01:43.950 somewhat change your life? 0:01:44.010 --> 0:01:46.610 Everything changes a life, right? It might, yeah. 0:01:46.950 --> 0:01:49.710 You're about to embark on an adventure with them. 0:01:49.890 --> 0:01:50.330 That's right. 0:01:50.490 --> 0:01:53.570 We're going to be back with a new heavyweight next week. 0:01:53.970 --> 0:01:57.170 But we don't want to leave you contentless because we 0:01:57.230 --> 0:02:02.090 know how you get. When you say, where is my content? 0:02:02.310 --> 0:02:05.190 You get hangry for your content. And we want to 0:02:05.230 --> 0:02:10.240 keep you content with the content. So strap in and 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.720 push those earbuds into your ears, not too deep. And 0:02:14.980 --> 0:02:18.550 you can find This Is Love wherever you get your podcasts. 0:02:18.950 --> 0:02:24.230 Enjoy the episode. Enjoy. But first, some words from our sponsors. 0:02:27.690 --> 0:02:30.450 When Dion Leonard is training for a race, he says 0:02:30.470 --> 0:02:33.669 he sets up two large industrial heaters in his spare bedroom. 0:02:34.230 --> 0:02:37.090 He wears the warmest clothes he has and puts on 0:02:37.130 --> 0:02:40.859 a backpack loaded with 15 pounds of rice or sugar, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:43.860 and then he sets the treadmill incline as high as 0:02:43.900 --> 0:02:48.540 it can go and runs for hours. He does this 0:02:49.060 --> 0:02:53.519 to train himself to run ultramarathons in extreme conditions, like 0:02:53.540 --> 0:02:58.610 through China's Gobi Desert. In June of 2016, he took 0:02:58.690 --> 0:03:02.010 three flights and a long train ride from Edinburgh, Scotland, 0:03:02.430 --> 0:03:05.670 to a remote part of northwestern China. He says he 0:03:05.710 --> 0:03:10.110 remembers feeling exhausted before the race even started. The first day, 0:03:10.650 --> 0:03:14.120 he ran 25 miles. On the morning of day two, 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.740 he was gearing up to run 25 more. 0:03:17.460 --> 0:03:19.960 And I remember looking at my bag to make sure 0:03:19.980 --> 0:03:22.780 that everything's zipped up and the chest straps are done 0:03:22.820 --> 0:03:25.500 up tightly, and I'm looking down and making sure that 0:03:26.590 --> 0:03:29.450 I'm ready to go, and I look down, and I 0:03:29.490 --> 0:03:32.890 see this little dog chewing on my shoes. And I 0:03:32.930 --> 0:03:36.210 start to yell out to the hundred other runners at 0:03:36.250 --> 0:03:37.990 the race and the race organizers. 0:03:38.950 --> 0:03:42.350 The dog was skinny and small, some kind of light 0:03:42.410 --> 0:03:45.070 brown terrier that didn't look like it had been bathed 0:03:45.110 --> 0:03:48.730 in a long time, that had skin problems, no collar. 0:03:49.530 --> 0:03:51.930 No one had any idea where the dog had come from. 0:03:52.510 --> 0:03:55.960 People said it had to be a stray. Dion was 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:00.200 there to win a race, 155 miles over seven days, 0:04:00.740 --> 0:04:03.970 with your food and water and supplies on your back. 0:04:04.710 --> 0:04:07.430 One of the toughest races in the world. I just 0:04:07.450 --> 0:04:09.550 don't understand how you run for so long. 0:04:11.370 --> 0:04:14.700 Well, I think sometimes I ask myself the same questions, 0:04:14.740 --> 0:04:15.260 to be honest. 0:04:15.500 --> 0:04:19.260 Well, let's just say today is a Wednesday. How much 0:04:19.300 --> 0:04:20.900 will you run? Do you run every day? 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.479 Yeah, I probably run 10 to 20 miles most days. Obviously, 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.619 sometimes work gets in the way, but yeah, I probably 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.499 do 60 to 100 miles a week in training. 0:04:31.419 --> 0:04:33.759 So you will run 10 to 20 miles today? 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.839 I'll do 10 today, but it's pretty wet and windy today, 0:04:36.919 --> 0:04:38.939 so yeah, maybe not. 0:04:39.500 --> 0:04:41.830 What will be your pace for your mile today? 0:04:42.599 --> 0:04:46.890 Between six, seven minute miles. So it won't take me 0:04:46.909 --> 0:04:49.210 very long to knock out 10 miles. It's pretty flat 0:04:49.250 --> 0:04:50.869 down here as well, so that helps. 0:04:52.529 --> 0:04:54.650 At the end of day one of the ultramarathon in 0:04:54.669 --> 0:04:58.700 the Gobi Desert, Dion was in third place. He'd trained 0:04:58.779 --> 0:05:01.659 hard and was feeling confident that he could win the 0:05:01.700 --> 0:05:04.960 whole race. And then he looked down and saw some 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:06.860 little dog biting at his shoe. 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:11.010 Like, whose dog is this? Someone come and get this 0:05:11.070 --> 0:05:14.510 damn dog away from me. And I love animals. It 0:05:14.549 --> 0:05:17.029 wasn't that at all. It was just I was focused 0:05:17.089 --> 0:05:19.869 on the race. I was focused on the day running ahead. 0:05:20.010 --> 0:05:22.570 And also the race was literally about to start. So 0:05:22.609 --> 0:05:26.250 I didn't want this dog to be trodden on. I 0:05:26.289 --> 0:05:28.909 didn't want to trip over it. So as I'm yelling 0:05:28.950 --> 0:05:32.810 this out, the race starting gun goes off and we're 0:05:32.869 --> 0:05:36.169 running down the road. And this dog's still on my 0:05:36.229 --> 0:05:38.909 leg as the other 100 runners start to form a 0:05:38.969 --> 0:05:41.229 line in front of me and take over. And here 0:05:41.289 --> 0:05:44.460 I am mid-pack. nearly last when I finally get this 0:05:44.489 --> 0:05:48.119 dog to get off my leg and I started to 0:05:48.159 --> 0:05:50.539 run and I hit the trail and I was running 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:52.999 up some of the hills just before the big mountain 0:05:53.060 --> 0:05:55.200 pass and I heard it behind me a couple of 0:05:55.239 --> 0:05:56.909 times but I didn't think anything of it. 0:05:57.929 --> 0:06:00.630 He ran through a forest and then the trail became 0:06:00.729 --> 0:06:05.270 steeper and steeper. Soon he was running through snow. At 0:06:05.390 --> 0:06:09.580 one point he passed a glacier. Everything was foggy and misty. 0:06:10.109 --> 0:06:12.739 He was so high up He was running through the clouds. 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.500 And I ran into the finish line which was 25 0:06:17.500 --> 0:06:21.360 miles that day and I remember there were people cheering 0:06:21.419 --> 0:06:24.219 and clapping and the locals were playing drums and I 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.630 thought that was really weird because actually that really only 0:06:27.669 --> 0:06:30.609 happens for the first male and the first female winners 0:06:30.669 --> 0:06:33.430 of the day and I was fourth overall and it 0:06:33.469 --> 0:06:36.510 wasn't a great result. So So I thought, why is 0:06:36.570 --> 0:06:39.790 everyone cheering and clapping and getting so excited for me? 0:06:39.869 --> 0:06:42.510 And as I crossed the finish line, all of that 0:06:42.589 --> 0:06:45.589 noise and commotion was still carrying on. And it was 0:06:45.630 --> 0:06:47.509 then when I turned around that I could see this 0:06:47.549 --> 0:06:50.859 little brown dog running in behind me. And of course, 0:06:50.940 --> 0:06:52.919 all of the attention. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:53.120 Was for her. 0:06:53.919 --> 0:06:57.620 This little brown dog had followed him for 25 miles, 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:03.430 over a mountain. Dion didn't know what to think. There 0:07:03.469 --> 0:07:06.089 they were at the finish line, staring at each other. 0:07:07.719 --> 0:07:20.550 I'm Phoebe Judge, and this is love. Dion decided to 0:07:20.590 --> 0:07:24.730 call the little dog, Gobi. He needed to eat, and 0:07:24.750 --> 0:07:26.679 he knew she must have been hungry too. 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:29.770 I started to unpack my bag to get my food 0:07:29.910 --> 0:07:33.910 out and my food consists of peanuts and almonds and 0:07:34.290 --> 0:07:39.410 dried meats and dehydrated food. All lightweight food, high calories, 0:07:39.590 --> 0:07:43.690 not specifically really great for dogs but I started to 0:07:43.730 --> 0:07:45.330 eat some of the dried meat which is great for 0:07:45.350 --> 0:07:49.170 the protein during the race and started to feed Gobi 0:07:49.210 --> 0:07:53.220 as well and she was so hungry that I ended 0:07:53.260 --> 0:07:56.540 up giving most of my food to her so She 0:07:56.580 --> 0:07:59.160 then collapsed next to me and laid next to me 0:07:59.239 --> 0:08:01.780 and went to sleep, and it was like she'd had 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:03.960 a great day. She now had a full belly, and 0:08:04.420 --> 0:08:06.540 she was next to the one she wanted to be 0:08:06.580 --> 0:08:07.000 next to. 0:08:08.179 --> 0:08:10.980 When Dion woke up the next morning, the dog was 0:08:11.020 --> 0:08:13.739 still curled up next to him. He says he was 0:08:13.780 --> 0:08:17.330 surprised she'd stuck with him. There were plenty of other 0:08:17.369 --> 0:08:21.290 people around, runners and race organizers, that had also given 0:08:21.310 --> 0:08:25.540 her food and attention. But she seemed to like him. 0:08:27.170 --> 0:08:30.850 Midway through day three, they reached a river about 300 0:08:30.850 --> 0:08:34.570 feet wide. Dion says he's about six feet tall and 0:08:34.610 --> 0:08:37.720 the water came up to his waist. The current was 0:08:37.740 --> 0:08:40.280 very strong and he had to wade through it carefully. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.580 He could see the first and second place runners ahead 0:08:43.620 --> 0:08:44.300 of him in the water. 0:08:45.020 --> 0:08:46.660 I thought to myself, you know, they're not that far 0:08:46.680 --> 0:08:49.260 ahead of me. I can definitely catch them. I can 0:08:49.300 --> 0:08:51.790 make it through the water quickly and catch up to them. 0:08:52.690 --> 0:08:55.850 And then he heard barking and yelping behind him. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.470 And at that moment I spin around to see what's 0:08:59.500 --> 0:09:02.770 going on and it's Gobi running up and down the 0:09:02.810 --> 0:09:06.510 riverbank and she's barking, yelping and whining because I'd left 0:09:06.530 --> 0:09:08.530 her there and she knows that she can't cross the 0:09:08.570 --> 0:09:11.470 water on her own. And if she had, she would 0:09:11.490 --> 0:09:16.480 have been washed away. So I just made this decision, 0:09:17.020 --> 0:09:19.760 this instant decision to go back and to pick her 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.590 up and as I went down, got on my knees 0:09:23.670 --> 0:09:25.510 and and lifted her up and put her in my 0:09:25.590 --> 0:09:27.930 arms she just nestled into my arms and she turned 0:09:27.950 --> 0:09:29.630 to me and she looked at me with these big 0:09:29.670 --> 0:09:33.240 brown eyes and she just had love in her eyes 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.700 and from that moment on I was I was sold 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:41.280 I mean. 0:09:38.540 --> 0:09:41.280 That's a big deal to waste time in a race. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.710 Yeah it's a huge deal um for someone that is 0:09:44.750 --> 0:09:48.390 there to win the race and um makes that decision 0:09:48.430 --> 0:09:52.230 to to go back and to sacrifice the time and 0:09:53.500 --> 0:09:56.690 the effort just to do it. Um, it was just 0:09:56.730 --> 0:09:58.650 something inside of me that I did. I didn't really 0:09:58.690 --> 0:10:00.230 think about it at the time. I just knew it 0:10:00.270 --> 0:10:03.960 was the right thing to do. And, um, I had, 0:10:04.780 --> 0:10:08.240 I had this sort of inner belief that it was 0:10:08.260 --> 0:10:10.080 the right thing. And, I needed to do it and 0:10:10.140 --> 0:10:10.590 just did it. 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.430 So once you cross the river, you put her down 0:10:14.500 --> 0:10:16.990 and keep running and she's right there by your side? 0:10:18.290 --> 0:10:21.330 Yeah, we carry on and a few other occasions throughout 0:10:21.370 --> 0:10:24.630 that same stage, we cross some other water crossings, not 0:10:24.690 --> 0:10:27.890 as large. And we also cross some, um, river bridge 0:10:27.950 --> 0:10:30.210 gates that she couldn't cross on her own so I'd 0:10:30.230 --> 0:10:31.770 have to pick her up a couple of times and 0:10:31.810 --> 0:10:37.530 carry across them as well and I just every time 0:10:37.570 --> 0:10:39.500 I picked her up she just nestled into my arm 0:10:39.540 --> 0:10:41.760 and she just seemed to put on this smile and 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.400 she just she knew how to work me let's put 0:10:44.420 --> 0:10:46.920 it that way and every time I did it I 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.980 just fell more and more in love with her and 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.710 it just she just sort of got into my heart 0:10:53.740 --> 0:10:54.670 from that moment. 0:10:55.630 --> 0:10:57.930 As Dion and Gobi neared the end of the day, 0:10:58.570 --> 0:11:01.390 Dion says he was sure he'd be finishing in third place. 0:11:02.410 --> 0:11:05.250 But then he reached the top of a ridge and 0:11:05.290 --> 0:11:07.850 could see the two runners ahead of him. They didn't 0:11:07.870 --> 0:11:09.550 look like they were going very fast at all. 0:11:10.010 --> 0:11:13.770 And I encouraged Gobi to run as fast as she 0:11:13.830 --> 0:11:17.390 could and tried to run quietly and quickly behind them 0:11:17.420 --> 0:11:19.510 to try and catch up on them. And they'd obviously 0:11:19.560 --> 0:11:21.740 been struggling. It was a really hot day and it 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.370 was dry conditions. I think they're out of water as well. And, 0:11:25.410 --> 0:11:29.050 you know, I remember saying to Gobi, let's go, let's 0:11:29.070 --> 0:11:31.740 try and win this stage. And about 50 meters before 0:11:31.780 --> 0:11:35.580 the actual finish line, they turned around to see myself 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:39.660 and Gobi running past them and they were shocked. And 0:11:40.620 --> 0:11:43.990 I ended up finishing that stage first and Gobi was second. 0:11:44.090 --> 0:11:47.620 And it was just It was just the best feeling 0:11:47.680 --> 0:11:49.440 to know that I'd done the right thing and gone 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.020 and got Gobi, picked her up, taken her across the river, 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.760 but still went on to win that stage. And I 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.730 was very proud of myself for that. And, you know, 0:11:58.770 --> 0:12:01.750 of course, Gobi and I became as thick as thieves 0:12:01.810 --> 0:12:02.270 really then. 0:12:03.610 --> 0:12:06.390 This was about the halfway point of the race. It 0:12:06.430 --> 0:12:08.830 seemed like Gobi would keep running with him, whether it 0:12:08.850 --> 0:12:12.689 was good for her or not. Dion had trained to 0:12:12.730 --> 0:12:17.540 run 155 miles in the heat, but he figured, she hadn't. 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:20.800 He was worried, and so he arranged for a race 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.780 volunteer to drive Gobi for the next two stages of 0:12:23.820 --> 0:12:27.760 the race. And then they ran the final stage together. 0:12:29.090 --> 0:12:32.410 Dion stopped running every few miles to give Gobi water. 0:12:33.350 --> 0:12:36.870 At one point, another runner stopped too, instead of taking 0:12:36.890 --> 0:12:40.710 the opportunity to pass. The runner said it wouldn't be fair. 0:12:41.490 --> 0:12:43.850 I could hardly run past you while you're giving her 0:12:43.890 --> 0:12:48.090 a drink. Dion and Gobi crossed the finish line together. 0:12:48.850 --> 0:12:52.770 Dion came in second overall, not the first-place finish he'd 0:12:52.810 --> 0:12:56.100 dreamed of, but he says he barely thought about that. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.040 At one point, he'd wondered if he'd finished the race 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.540 at all. He says, just by being there, Gobi made 0:13:04.580 --> 0:13:08.330 me want to keep going. He'd already decided that he 0:13:08.340 --> 0:13:12.320 didn't want to go home to Scotland without her. This 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:16.450 isn't an easy thing. I mean, taking a dog from 0:13:16.550 --> 0:13:20.190 China back to Scotland or really any country to any 0:13:20.250 --> 0:13:21.870 country is not something you just put the dog under 0:13:21.910 --> 0:13:25.210 your seat. There's a whole long, complicated process, right? 0:13:25.650 --> 0:13:29.030 Yeah, especially in China. And this is a process that 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:31.600 can take three months at the best of times. It's 0:13:31.680 --> 0:13:35.640 usually a three-month quarantine process just to find out whether 0:13:35.660 --> 0:13:38.380 a dog has rabies or not. So you've got to 0:13:38.420 --> 0:13:40.260 go through that process just for that alone. 0:13:41.070 --> 0:13:43.189 Dion knew it would take time to put together a 0:13:43.250 --> 0:13:46.890 realistic plan. A race volunteer offered to take care of 0:13:46.950 --> 0:13:50.010 Gobi while Dion went home to work out the details. 0:13:51.190 --> 0:13:54.290 He contacted as many pet travel companies as he could, 0:13:54.830 --> 0:13:59.950 asking for help. Everyone said no. Logistically, it was a nightmare. 0:14:00.890 --> 0:14:03.170 Just getting Gobi to one of the bigger cities in China, 0:14:03.490 --> 0:14:06.530 where she could quarantine, was looking nearly impossible. 0:14:07.550 --> 0:14:11.350 People from Beijing or Shanghai... could organize Gobi to be 0:14:11.910 --> 0:14:15.210 moved out of the country for us, but they needed 0:14:15.250 --> 0:14:18.230 someone from the region where Gobi was to bring the 0:14:18.270 --> 0:14:21.440 dog to either Beijing or Shanghai. Now, the lady that 0:14:21.460 --> 0:14:24.960 was looking after Gobi, she couldn't do that. So we 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.360 were trying to find out how we could move Gobi. 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.760 Gobi didn't have any of the medical requirements to go 0:14:30.820 --> 0:14:33.100 on a plane or to be moved, even in a car. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.020 So it was proving difficult to find out how this 0:14:37.060 --> 0:14:37.580 could happen. 0:14:38.620 --> 0:14:41.760 And during this time, Dion says he stopped really getting 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.970 any updates about how Gobi was doing. The race volunteer 0:14:46.230 --> 0:14:51.070 who'd offered to look after Gobi answered Dion's emails very sporadically. 0:14:51.850 --> 0:14:54.870 Sometimes Dion would go weeks without hearing anything. 0:14:55.730 --> 0:14:58.590 That started to make me a little queasy inside, and 0:14:58.650 --> 0:15:01.420 I knew things weren't right for a little while before. 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.200 I actually received a phone call to say Gobi had 0:15:04.220 --> 0:15:07.240 gone missing, and she was missing in that city of 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:08.720 three million people, and. 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:10.640 I was devastated. 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.540 I was heartbroken and I was angry. I was really 0:15:14.620 --> 0:15:17.260 upset about it and I thought we had everything in 0:15:17.330 --> 0:15:20.990 place and that was the moment that I made a 0:15:21.030 --> 0:15:23.490 very quick decision to fly all the way back out 0:15:23.510 --> 0:15:27.420 to northwest China, all the way back. Those three aeroplanes 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.280 and that long train ride to go out there and 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:31.210 see if I could find her. 0:15:47.350 --> 0:15:49.970 Dion had been training to run an ultramarathon in Chile 0:15:50.250 --> 0:15:52.990 in just a few months, which, according to his plan, 0:15:53.530 --> 0:15:55.610 would put him in a good position to run what's 0:15:55.650 --> 0:15:58.990 considered the toughest race in the world through the Sahara 0:15:59.010 --> 0:16:03.190 Desert in Morocco. But he left it all behind to 0:16:03.210 --> 0:16:09.010 go find Gobi. He knew the odds weren't great. In 2016, Urumqi, 0:16:09.430 --> 0:16:13.010 the city where she'd gone missing, had a population of 0:16:13.010 --> 0:16:17.920 3.5 million people. Little by little, people heard about Dion 0:16:18.380 --> 0:16:21.320 and why he was looking for Gobi and stepped forward 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.160 to help him print and put up posters. 0:16:25.060 --> 0:16:27.160 Day after day after day, as we were putting these 0:16:27.220 --> 0:16:30.180 posters up, the word was getting out on the streets 0:16:30.220 --> 0:16:32.790 that this guy had come all this way for this 0:16:32.810 --> 0:16:35.250 little dog and people thought it was pretty amazing and 0:16:36.050 --> 0:16:39.750 everyone started searching. If only she knew just how popular 0:16:39.770 --> 0:16:40.150 she was. 0:16:41.430 --> 0:16:45.700 The search team got bigger every day. One day, Dion 0:16:45.740 --> 0:16:49.740 says he counted 50 people, all helping him look. One 0:16:49.780 --> 0:16:52.520 of Dion's tentmates from the race flew over from Hong 0:16:52.540 --> 0:16:56.120 Kong to join in the search. Sometimes, the group would 0:16:56.170 --> 0:17:00.610 stay out all night. It was discouraging, though. Day after day, 0:17:01.110 --> 0:17:05.170 no luck. People would be eager to help, and be wrong. 0:17:05.910 --> 0:17:08.550 They'd tell Dion, we might have your dog, and he'd 0:17:08.590 --> 0:17:11.660 show up, and it would be a black lab. I mean, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.000 surely there must have been a few times where you 0:17:14.260 --> 0:17:16.889 thought to yourself, you know what, I've done all I 0:17:16.929 --> 0:17:19.730 can do. I've spent enough money. I've spent enough time. 0:17:20.070 --> 0:17:22.270 I've got a wife. I've got a job. I've got 0:17:22.290 --> 0:17:25.350 a life. I can't give this dog any more time. 0:17:26.389 --> 0:17:29.710 No. I was committed. From the moment I made that 0:17:29.730 --> 0:17:32.350 promise to Gobi, I was committed. And when she went missing, 0:17:32.470 --> 0:17:37.200 that commitment just fired up even more inside me. And, 0:17:37.899 --> 0:17:39.720 you know, I'm pretty driven and stubborn and. 0:17:42.369 --> 0:17:44.149 Yeah, no, there was no way I was going to 0:17:44.189 --> 0:17:46.509 let her down again after all that had happened. And 0:17:46.949 --> 0:17:52.850 there is just some connection and bond with Gobi that, yeah, 0:17:53.389 --> 0:17:55.370 I don't know. It's just unexplainable. 0:17:56.649 --> 0:17:59.330 One night, Dion was eating dinner with his friend from 0:17:59.369 --> 0:18:02.790 the race, Richard. One of the search team members sent 0:18:02.830 --> 0:18:05.669 Dion a text with a blurry picture of a dog. 0:18:06.290 --> 0:18:10.200 She asked him if it was Gobi. Dion didn't think so. 0:18:10.939 --> 0:18:13.160 But Richard convinced him that they had to go see 0:18:13.199 --> 0:18:15.159 for themselves, just to be sure. 0:18:15.179 --> 0:18:17.519 He said to me, look, you've got to go out 0:18:17.540 --> 0:18:19.719 and see if this is her or not. And we 0:18:19.780 --> 0:18:22.580 went out to this family's home and I walked in 0:18:22.639 --> 0:18:27.520 behind translator, a driver, Richard and a few other people 0:18:27.540 --> 0:18:29.969 from the search party and across the other side of 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:34.090 the living room was this little brown dog and she 0:18:34.149 --> 0:18:36.810 came running up to me, barking, yelping and whining. As 0:18:36.869 --> 0:18:39.030 soon as she saw me, I hadn't said a word and... 0:18:39.659 --> 0:18:42.700 She was so excited to see me, and I knew 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:43.699 straight away it was Gobi. 0:18:45.580 --> 0:18:48.640 Gobi was safe with this family, but it was clear 0:18:48.780 --> 0:18:51.600 she'd been through a lot. She'd been hit by a car, 0:18:52.060 --> 0:18:54.320 and her leg needed an immediate operation. 0:18:54.820 --> 0:18:58.119 But on the flip side, she was alive, and from 0:18:58.139 --> 0:19:00.629 that moment onwards, she wasn't going to go out of 0:19:00.669 --> 0:19:01.129 my sight. 0:19:02.609 --> 0:19:05.070 In order to go home with Dion, Gobi had to 0:19:05.109 --> 0:19:08.469 pass a rabies test. Then, She had to wait 90 0:19:08.470 --> 0:19:12.460 days for a second round of test results. Dion said okay. 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.080 He asked his boss for a sabbatical from his job 0:19:16.459 --> 0:19:19.700 as a business manager for a whiskey company. He says 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.799 he fully expected people to think he'd lost it completely. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.560 But for him, he says, it was the only solution 0:19:26.899 --> 0:19:30.720 that made any kind of sense. Dion rented a small 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.879 apartment in Beijing for the two of them. They went 0:19:33.919 --> 0:19:37.059 for long walks. and found coffee shops that would let 0:19:37.129 --> 0:19:40.969 dogs inside. Dion says every morning when he woke up, 0:19:41.490 --> 0:19:44.489 Gobi would be staring at him, inches from his face. 0:19:45.909 --> 0:19:50.790 And then, on New Year's Eve 2016, they headed home, together. 0:19:52.179 --> 0:19:56.139 When Gobi finally walked into the door of your home, 0:19:56.199 --> 0:19:59.060 when you finally walked in four months later, five months later, 0:19:59.490 --> 0:20:01.510 Gobi walks in. Do you think this little dog was saying, 0:20:01.570 --> 0:20:04.449 what the hell is this? What is going on? 0:20:05.810 --> 0:20:09.179 She probably was when she saw the cat. That was 0:20:09.220 --> 0:20:11.440 probably a real shock to her system because I'd seen 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:13.979 her with other cats out in Beijing and she's not 0:20:14.020 --> 0:20:16.560 a big fan of other cats. But I've got an 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.439 indoor cat called Lara. And she's a rag doll and 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.180 she's the princess of the house. And of course, from 0:20:23.260 --> 0:20:25.560 her point of view, Lara the cat, I'd been away 0:20:25.619 --> 0:20:29.000 for six months, basically. From the race started in June, 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.619 it was January when I got there with Gobi. So 0:20:31.659 --> 0:20:36.429 for six months, I disappeared on Lara. And I'm probably 0:20:36.470 --> 0:20:39.629 her favorite out of my wife and her. So here 0:20:39.689 --> 0:20:42.429 I am finally turning up and she's excited to see me, 0:20:42.470 --> 0:20:46.189 yet I bring in this little dog. So that was 0:20:46.230 --> 0:20:49.130 a shock for both of them. But You know, they 0:20:49.149 --> 0:20:52.530 get on great, I guess, most of the time. They 0:20:52.550 --> 0:20:55.330 sleep together at night. They fight and run up and 0:20:55.369 --> 0:20:56.550 down the hallway during the day. 0:20:56.570 --> 0:21:00.129 Yeah, it feels to me like Gobi's not like a 0:21:00.169 --> 0:21:01.669 dog that you train to sit. 0:21:03.679 --> 0:21:06.899 Gobi can't do any tricks at all. She can run, 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.120 but she can't do any tricks at all. And I've 0:21:10.179 --> 0:21:13.260 never tried to teach her anything either. So I think 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:18.449 I love the personality and the dog that she is and... Yeah, 0:21:18.669 --> 0:21:20.750 she's her own sort of dog and her own character, 0:21:20.810 --> 0:21:24.049 and she's always got plenty of energy to burn. So, yeah, 0:21:24.070 --> 0:21:28.340 it's best left that she has a great life, but 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.220 also that she enjoys herself as well. 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.490 Do you run with her now, just short little runs? 0:21:34.510 --> 0:21:34.590 Yes. 0:21:35.500 --> 0:21:39.300 We do run together, short runs, maybe to the bakery 0:21:39.470 --> 0:21:41.270 or to go and get a coffee. I mean, Gobi 0:21:41.310 --> 0:21:44.450 loves to run. She's born to run, and she would 0:21:44.730 --> 0:21:49.030 still love to be out there running ultramarathons. But with 0:21:49.050 --> 0:21:53.350 the leg operation that she received and just trying to 0:21:53.389 --> 0:21:55.830 look after Gobi in general, of course we don't make 0:21:55.850 --> 0:22:00.129 her do anything that she shouldn't do. And now it's 0:22:00.169 --> 0:22:00.990 more for enjoyment. 0:22:02.419 --> 0:22:04.659 What is it like to just have a normal life 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.080 with Gobi? I mean, the life you've known is hiding 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:11.060 out in an apartment in Beijing, running across deserts, searching 0:22:11.109 --> 0:22:13.269 her down, you know, in the middle of cities. What 0:22:13.330 --> 0:22:15.469