One time a dog followed us from Citrakut all the way to the Kumbha-mela in Allahabad. He used to attend all the aratis, from mangal arati to Gaura arati, staying in the middle of the devotees. He would eat only the prasadam we left for him and nothing from outside. Generally all the other dogs would stare at us while we were honouring prasadam but this dog would stay far away from us near the ratha. Sometimes dogs would enter our kitchen at night and drink ghee from the pot, forcing us to throw away the spoilt ghee, but this dog never entered the kitchen even once. Although there were many camps at the Kumbha-mela this dog would sleep only in ISKCON’s camp and would accept a blanket for the cold only if we gave it to him. He would follow Gaur Nitai’s kirtan procession everyday without fail. Many times some devotees wouldn’t come but this dog was there everyday, very happily attending the procession. Upon hearing this, Radhanath Swami and Lokanath Swami commented that this wasn’t an ordinary dog.
Padayatra is full of such encouraging and amazing experiences. We all read Srimad- bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrita, but on padayatra we get to experience these holy books. While passing through the forest of Jarikhanda Lord Caitanya made wild animals dance and now he made this dog behave like a devotee!