Then she stopped weeping. When the boy left home, accompanied by the angel, the dog followed Tobiah out of the house and went with them. The travelers walked till nightfall, and made camp beside the Tigris River. (Tobit 6: 1-2)

This may be the only positive reference to dogs in scripture. Given the urban setting, it is clear that the dog is a pet. It is an evocative image: a boy, his dog, and an angel off on adventure.

The ruins of ancient Nineveh are outside modern Mosul, Iraq. The geography of scripture can be obscure, but Tobiah, Raphael, and the dog probably travel southeast toward modern Arbil, skirting south of the mountains of Kurdistan.

The reference to the Tigris is almost certainly the Great Zab a major tributary of the Tigris roughly 20 miles from Nineveh.

After crossing the Zab they would have continued to Kirkuk and Sulymaniyah and then into modern Iran. Ecbatana is modern Hamadan. Ancient Rages was very near modern Tehran. The place names are more familiar today than just a few years ago.

It is not a straight, simple, or easy way... then or today. But that is usually the case with life's journey.

Above is a modern map showing Mosul to Arbil. The main southeastern route is the probable path of our heroes. The map is courtesy of the University of Texas.