Truth behind viral video of seven dogs ‘escaping captor’ as owner speaks out

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the story behind the viral video of seven dogs escaping their captors and making their way home is reportedly fake.

The internet went wild this week for a heartwarming tale of a group of pooches who banded together after being kidnapped and embarked on a journey home together.

It sounds like it could be a movie plot, which, to be honest, was probably the first red flag that it's not actually true.

In case you missed it, the group of dogs, which included Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds, and was led by a brave Corgi, went viral after a video circulated, alongside claims they had broken free after being captured for dog meat.

The video in question, which has been compared to the 1993 Disney movie Homeward Bound, shows the pack trotting along down the highway together, with the Corgi at the front.

It was reportedly filmed in Changchun, Jilin province on 16 March, where overnight temperatures can drop to lower than 1°C, prompting concerns for the animals' safety.

The story of the seven dogs who 'escaped capture' and 'made their way home' tugged on the heartstrings of the world (Getty Stock Image)

More elements kept emerging in the story, such as the rumour that the dogs travelled 12 miles and escaped after chewing their way out of a cage.

Then, reports claimed the German Shepherd was injured, and the group was banded around it, while the Corgi led them on their extraordinary journey home.

But, as mentioned, as heartwarming as it sounds, it's now come to light that the whole elaborate tale is completely false.

According to PEOPLE Magazine, the true story is nowhere near as exciting.

Residents reportedly first saw the dogs wandering near the roadway on 15 March, and it was later revealed that the animals belonged to residents of a nearby village and they had simply roamed away from home.

And the German Shepherd was not injured, but state media reported the dog was actually just in heat, which had attracted several of the others, leading them to move together.

According to Dextero, the dog's owner, Ms Zhang, told City Evening News: “It wasn’t dog traffickers who took them, they ran off on their own. They probably ran off around the 13th or 14th. My German Shepherd, Sibao, was in heat.

"After Sibao went into heat, it attracted many other dogs. We don’t even know how, but they just kept running farther and farther, eventually reaching a main road about four to five kilometers from the village.”

It's since been revealed that the story behind the video was not real (Getty Stock Image)

The dogs simply went for a wander together and then made their way back home on their own - something that has happened before, according to the owner, as the dogs are typically allowed to roam freely around the village.

This story is a classic example of the internet doing what it does best and running away with something, but at least it made for a good tale.

According to China’s state-backed Cover News, the man who filmed the video speculated that the group might have escaped from a dog transport vehicle, but later admitted he hadn't actually seen it happen.

Reacting to the news that the story isn't real, one X user penned: "A whole narrative… built on nothing. Welcome to the internet."

While a second and third wrote: "The story is fake? Damn" and "They got me there".