Even dogs go to great lengths to find happiness-just ask Polo (right), a beautiful white German shepherd who lived on Kibbutz Beit Oren, near Haifa, in Israel. Although he was cherished by his owner, Benny Pardo, Polo possessed a distinct problem: He liked to hunt sheep and calves, animals raised on the kibbutz. After neighbors complained, the family decided to give Polo to the army, where he worked as a guard dog.

But Polo missed the kibbutz. One day, two and a half years after being sent away, he freed himself from his leash and left the army base. After walking 12 miles in sweltering heat and crossing highways and fields, Polo arrived back at the kibbutz, filthy and exhausted.

"Polo stood at the door of our house on the kibbutz, howling with joy," Pardo related. "We couldn't comprehend how he had managed to find us." The Pardos weren't able to keep Polo at the kibbutz, but after the story was publicized in Israel, the family received a flood of adoption requests. Polo was finally placed with a family in Ma'aleh Adumim, outside Jerusalem, where he now resides happily.