Dogs are indeed man's best friends. For more than 80 days, a loyal canine has been waiting at the railing in the middle of a road in Hohhot, a city in Inner Mongolia, for its female owner.

But the owner died earlier in a car accident on that busy road on Aug 21. Since then, her dog has been standing guard there every day, Chinese news platform Pear Video reported.

Video clips of the dog waiting for its owner has attracted the attention of Chinese netizens since the video was posted last Saturday (Nov 10), drawing more than a million views on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

A taxi driver said that the dog has been seen sitting at the railing in the middle of the road since the accident.

The dog is skittish, and runs away when approached. However, it always returns to the same spot, the taxi driver told news agency China News.

Some dog lovers have also reportedly left food near the railing for the dog.

But with the onset of winter in Inner Mongolia, some netizens are concerned about the dog's well-being.

One netizen wrote: "The weather is getting colder, and waiting in the middle of the road is not sustainable in the long run. Hope the family members of the dog's owner or the relevant authorities can take care of the dog."

A local charity is reaching out to the owner's family and will find a home for the dog if they are unable to contact them, China News reported.

Many other loyal canines have made a name for themselves. One of the most famous is an Akita dog named Hachiko in Japan. It became well known for meeting its owner every day at Tokyo's Shibuya railway station. It continued waiting for its owner even nine years after the man's death. Hachiko died in 1935 on a street in Shibuya, where its owner lived.

In 2015, a miniature schnauzer in Iowa walked 20 blocks to a hospital to find its owner, who was hospitalised for two weeks after surgery. Security footage captured the dog wandering around the hospital.

Earlier this year, Chinese netizens were swooning over an elderly dog named Xiongxiong who would wait outside a Chongqing metro station for its owner to return from work.

Copyright:  The Straits Times/Asia News Network