Frank the adventurous dachshund was in the dog house yesterday after jumping onto a bus and making an 18-mile trip to the seaside on his own.
The mischievous mutt vanished from his home earlier this week sending devoted owner Michelle Ballard into a blind panic.
The four-year-old pooch had strolled down a nearby road in Colchester, Essex, before hopping unnoticed onto a bus bound for the seaside town of Clacton.
Michelle hastily arranged a search party with friends, fellow dog walkers and schoolchildren to try and find her much loved pet.
Meanwhile Frank was enjoying his day trip on the number 61 before being noticed by a fellow passenger who, after chatting with the driver, agreed to take him to his home in Clacton.
Later that night the good samaritan’s family spotted a Facebook appeal for Frank’s whereabouts and were able to arrange a reunion.
A relieved Michelle said:
I thought a bus driver would have noticed and not let him on but maybe he boarded when someone was paying.
Luckily, there was a kind gentleman called Michael who offered to take him back to his own home in Clacton.
He took him in for the evening and was going to take him to the vet in the morning but his family spotted the post on Facebook.
My partner Jonathan picked him up at about 7pm.
Frank was taken home and reunited with Michelle as well as best friends Charlie, a two-year-old fellow sausage dog, and Freddie, his two-year-old human brother.
Michelle added:
He is a valuable dog and you hear some horrible stories about situation like this. We were so lucky it was such a kind man who picked him up.
It is completely out of character for Frank. It is the first time he has done anything like this in his life.
Someone else who was recently reunited with their beloved pooch was record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch.
While Michelle and Frank were only apart for a few hours, Christina and her dog LBD didn’t see each other for a whopping 328 days.
While Christina may have broken records during her stint in space, the video she’s recently shared on Twitter of her reuniting with her dog is breaking hearts.
You can see it here:
Whether we’re apart from our dogs for a few hours, or a few months, it’s nice to know we’ll always get a good reception upon our return.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.