A Dog Takes The Subway Every Day, And A Man Puts A Tracker On Him

A Free Spirit and the Ferry Ride

Everyone knew him. Chris followed Boji and couldn’t believe the stories were true.

“He is a free spirit. All he wants to do is ride transportation.”

“Every time he passes in front of a bus, van, or any mode of transportation, he just wants to get on. It’s really strange,”

he told CNN News.

Not only did Chris confirm that Boji actually travels up to 20 miles a day on public transportation, but he also discovered something even more incredible. Boji was even spotted on his way to Prince’s Island over the weekend.

To get there and back, Boji would have to take an hour-long ferry ride. It’s truly something impressive.

When he boarded the ferry, he knew where to go. He was headed to the side with the sun.

“He loves water,”

Chris explained.

When the ferry departed, he started barking at waves. But Chris didn’t just find this out.

Boji knew exactly which ferry to choose. He checked one and people were coming up.

“I don’t know how he knows, but that was the heading to Eminonu and the other one was heading to Besiktas,”

Chris said, laughing.

So he checked the one for Eminonu and said no, that’s not the right one. Then he slipped under the turnstiles and went to the one in Besiktas.

The Meaning of Boji

Chris also discovered another extravagant Boji habit. City workers told Chris that Boji seems to appreciate the different engines of the vehicles he rides in.

“On the ferry, he sits in the back where the engine is because he likes the vibrations,”

Chris explained.

“And when he’s on the subway, he sits where the wheels are, right underneath, above the wheels. He always likes the feeling of sitting on them.”

That’s how Boji got its name. The name Boji comes from the area of the subway that sits just above the wheels.

In railway terminology, it’s called a bogey. In Turkish, bogey translates as Boji.

He was a really smart dog, but how does a stray dog find enough food to survive on the streets of Istanbul? Being a stray on the streets is dangerous for any animal.

So what makes Istanbul different? Istanbul is known as “Kazistan” for a reason.

There are many stray dogs and cats roaming the streets. But being a stray dog in Istanbul is different from being a stray dog anywhere else in the world.

The city of Istanbul has a program that protects the many stray dogs that roam the streets. Food is provided by the city.

There are sterilization programs and emergency assistance services for all stray animals. For Boji, it is not difficult to find enough food.

“There will be water and pet food bowls hidden in the corners of restaurants or homes,”

Chris explains.

So Boji knows where to go. He has these sections perfectly located.

A Beloved Member of the Community

The municipality is also planning to post flyers about Boji on the transportation system to give people instructions on how to interact with him. But how do Istanbul residents react to Boji?

“He walked into a restaurant and two men chased him away yelling at him,”

Chris says.

“And then you hear someone else, the owner of another restaurant, yelling at those guys: ‘It’s Boji! It’s Boji! Don’t chase him away!'”

So he’s definitely a celebrity now. And it’s not just members of the Istanbul community who are protecting their beloved pet.

Alvan Errol and the other municipal employees have a soft spot for the traveling dog. Since Boji became so well known, the municipal employees started taking him for regular checkups at the vet.

It’s a way to help him maintain good health. They also decided to do a behavioral study to verify that the dog was doing well and that his interactions with humans were not a problem for him and the people he meets every day.

“They took him to some sort of boot camp and gave him some attention, some grooming, some shots,”

Chris told CNN News.

It was helpful for Boji to get those checkups. They watched him interact, got his placement collar fixed, and it took about a week.

Once they were sure Boji was healthy, they released him, but not without creating a small kennel for him in one of the subway stations.

Since people became aware of Boji and his strange habits of moving around on trains, he has become a global phenomenon on the internet. He has more than 79,000 followers on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Many of his followers are Istanbul commuters who know him personally.

“You take the train and suddenly you see Boji,”

said Alvan Errol of the Istanbul Metro.

“You smile and you seize the moment. You really do.”