A black labrador called Archie, who got separated from his owner at a remote Scottish railway station, amazed his distraught master by simply jumping aboard the first train home all by himself. Not only did Archie catch the right train, he got off at the right station almost 20 miles away, according to British tabloid, The Mail on Sunday.
Lost dog catches train home alone
/dog_on_train.jpg)
Photo 1: Archie the Dog seen here traveling in style. (OK, it was only British Rail but it beats walking!)
Photo 2: The family's pet duck was also VERY happy to see Archie return safe and sound.
The whole amazing incident began after a day out in the country when owner Mike Taitt lost sight of Archie at Inverurie station, near Aberdeen in eastern Scotland.
After searching in vain for several hours Mike finally gave up for the evening and returned home hoping that someone would call him after spotting his pet's tag. Upon his return, Mike said he was shocked when rail staff called him to say Archie was waiting for him at Insch station - just three miles from home.
Puzzled as to how the dog could have made the twenty mile journey alone, Mike assumed that a good samaritan had simply found Archie and kindly dropped him off at the nearby station after discovering his address on his tag.
But after talking to railway workers, Mike was astounded when signalman, Derek Hope, told him he had witnessed Archie getting on and off the train all by himself.
"There was a bemused train conductor standing with Archie on the platform saying he had got on at Inverurie but didn't have a ticket," Hope said.
Closed-circuit television footage shows the dog waiting for his master at the station before watching the Aberdeen to Inverness train pull in. Apparently, Archie decided to avoid the long walk home by simply hopping on board.
"He is a very intelligent dog," Taitt said. "When he could not find me, he simply took the right train home. He's been on that train before. I am convinced he knew it was the right one. But who knows?"
When asked by our Daily Happy Pill reporter whether Archie had ever shown signs of hyper-intelligence in the past, Mike shook his head for a moment but then replied: "Hang on a minute. He does play chess once in a while but I don't suppose that really proves he's intelligent".
"Why do you think that playing chess doesn't prove he's intelligent?", asked our puzzled reporter.
"Well for a start, he's only won five out of our last twelve games", Taitt replied.
