It's the most remarkable bond formed by an unlikely pair: An Australian ultra-marathon runner and a scruffy desert dog. Through one of the most gruelling foot races on Earth, in one of the most isolated locations, a stray chihuahua cross was about to change Dion Leonard's life forever. On the first day of the week-long race across China's desolate Gobi Desert, Dion noticed the stray wandering around the camp. But when the race began and the 100 competitors took off from the starting line, Dion was surprised to find the dog running alongside him.

For each leg of the exhausting race, the little dog - who Dion named Gobi after the desert they were running across - followed him stride-for-stride. After the pair finished the race together in second place, Dion knew his adventures with Gobi weren't over. He made it his mission to bring his new best friend back to his home in Scotland. But while Gobi was in quarantine in the Chinese city of Urumqi, she went missing. A social media campaign to find her quickly went viral and Dion was soon being bombarded with 200 leads daily - but each tip-off seemed to be a dead end.

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