Vietnamese man repurchased dog to give back to owner

Dogs are truly our best friends. For any dog owner, having to part from their furry companion is an incredibly painful experience.

It is understandable, then, that a Vietnamese old woman couldn’t bear to let her dog go even though she had sold the dog due to financial difficulty. In the past few days, a video of her tearfully bidding farewell to her dog has been widely shared online, drawing attention from netizens. Touched by this, a charitable man has purchased the dog from the buyer to return it to her.

She couldn’t let her dog go

Over the past week, a video went viral on several Vietnamese Facebook pages. In it, an old woman of the Mông ethnicity was crying while bidding goodbye to her dog, which she reportedly had to sell due to financial difficulty. The story quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of reactions from netizens, moving many to tears.


Video credit: Thuan Phuc

In the video, the woman is seen standing next to her caged dog, reaching inside the cage to pet it. It was said that she had raised the dog since it was a pup.

A man’s voice – presumably the buyer’s – can also be heard comforting her, saying that he’d take good care of the dog and that she could come over to his house to visit it when she had the time. The man also complemented the dog on how well-behaved it was.


Video credit: Thuan Phuc

A man repurchased the dog to give it back to her

Upon learning of the woman’s story, Mr. Lê Văn Tiến, who makes a living out of breeding and selling rare dog breeds, was moved. He reached out to the buyer and repurchased the dog, then personally went to the old woman’s house, which was 140KM away from his, to return it.


Mr. Lê Văn Tiến (Right) giving the dog back to the original owner
Image credit: Lê Thị Yến Nhi

According to Mr. Tiến, the old woman spoke the language of the Mông ethnicity and he never learned her name. He did not disclose how much money he spent to repurchase the dog, only saying that it was not a small amount. He told vietnamnet that he did so out of appreciation for the love that the old lady had for her dog.

The charitable man also contacted his friends to raise a small fund to help the woman’s family. In the end, they managed to raise a total of VND5,000,000 (~USD215.25) to gift to her.

Netizens are touched

Both the woman’s love for her dog and Mr. Tiến’s good deed captured the hearts of netizens. Many took to Facebook to show their appreciation, and some even drew comparisons between this story and the extremely popular classic Vietnamese short story Lão Hạc (Old Man Hạc), which tells of an old man who was forced to sell his beloved dog to make ends meet.

“Old Man Hạc was in just as much pain when he sold his golden dog. Now in 2020, the same scenario happened, but this white dog was lucky to find the right person at the right time,” Facebook user Nguyễn Quốc Việt wrote.


Image credit: Beatvn

“Your sympathy is precious. Wish you and your family health, happiness, and success,” another netizen named Lý Quốc praised Mr. Tiến’s action.


Image credit: Điện Bàn

An appraisable act of kindness

Mr. Tiến’s good deed surely means a lot to both the owner and the dog, and it is a great example of how Vietnamese are always willing to take care of one another.

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Cover image adapted from: Thuan Phuc, Lê Thị Yến Nhi

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