Every autumn, during Nepal's Tihar festival, one day belongs entirely to dogs. Kukur Tihar (kukur puja) sees households garland their pets with marigolds, mark their foreheads, and feed them treats — because in Nepali tradition dogs guard the gates of heaven. It is a genuinely lovely thing to witness if you happen to be travelling in Kathmandu or the hills during the festival, though it comes with a caveat: the evening's firecrackers terrify the very animals the morning honoured.
This year, the celebration has carried a more sombre note. The October floods on the Trisuli and Budi Gandaki rivers displaced countless families — and separated many from their pets. Two dogs in particular have become known far beyond Nepal.
The first is Seti, belonging to Dayaram Karki of Dharche. When the Budi Gandaki flooded on 11 October, she was swept downstream to Jagat and stranded on a sandbar in the middle of the raging river. For two weeks she survived on biscuits thrown to her across the water. Animal Nepal eventually mounted a three-day rescue, deploying professional white-water canoe guides to reach her, and video of the operation has circled the globe.
The second story is quieter but perhaps even more affecting. In Trisuli, a black-and-white dog wearing a collar has refused to leave the spot where its family's house stood before the flood on 26 August. With the whole neighbourhood gone, nobody even knows the dog's name. It sits in what was once the family courtyard, sometimes digging in the sand — a image of loyalty that has resonated with people worldwide.
Nepalis' relationship with dogs extends well past festival days, and social media has amplified it. Creator Rajiv Lama, known online as karzen_kanchi, posts videos of his five dogs — nine-year-old Labrador mix Kanchi, two-year-old Golden Retriever and German Shepherd mix Kali, street rescues Gori and Khaire, and Gori's puppy Pari — that draw millions of views. The same platforms now help reunite lost pets with owners and promote adoptions from shelters.
For travellers, Kukur Tihar is a rare chance to see a culture that publicly celebrates its animals, and the Seti and Trisuli stories are a reminder that if you visit Nepal after the monsoon, river valleys are still recovering from this year's floods — worth factoring into any trekking or road plans around the Manaslu and Langtang regions.
