Poodle walks 50 km to country house in search of missing owners

Olga Vinogradova, 32, left Sam with her niece in Krasnoyarsk city while she went to her dacha - or country house - to water her plants. Sensing where they had gone, the poodle ran away.

A search for the missing animal failed to find him - for more than three weeks. Then he appeared - at the dacha some 50 kilometres away. 

Olga told local TV channel 'Yenisei': 'We needed to go to our dacha to water the plants, literally for just two hours. We left Sam with my niece but he ran away and vanished. We were searching for him for three weeks, but in vain. So many tears were shed. We thought that we had lost him for ever. 

'But in about 23 days he came to our dacha. Strangely that he did not come home, where he had lived all his life, for about ten years. Now we're so happy. He came by himself, just a couple of days ago. Apparently, he was fed along the way, so it shows there are good people in this world.'

But does it show something else, too?

German scientists - and others - have revealed how dogs are sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field. As well as a keen sense of smell and hearing, they prefer to align themselves north to south when doing their business. 

Zoologist Hynek Burda of Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen reported in journal Frontiers in Zoology that dogs use this alignment - but only when the magnetic field is calm. 

Now the search is on to find out how man's best friend uses this skill which is beyond our own ability.

Perhaps Sam's amazing walk to the dacha gives a clue.