Brainy border collie catches the BUS home after getting separated from owners

A BRAINY border collie which was separated from its owners after bolting in a park caught a bus home.

Pepper walked two and a half miles to a busy town centre station — then hopped on the No.7 Arriva service.

Dan Jones

Pepper walked two-and-a-half miles from the park to Stevenage Bus Station and caught a bus home[/caption]

Stunned passengers watched as she sat for 15 minutes before getting up at her stop and jumping off when the doors opened.

Pepper was then reunited with relieved owners Charlotte Jones, 25, and Saffron Caps, 23. Saffron said: “A lady on the bus recognised her and was able to get a picture of her.

“She phoned me and said, ‘Your dog is on the number seven bus’.

“She told the driver the dog was going to stay on the bus until she met her owners.

“Pepper got up near our stop. The doors opened and she jumped off. It’s just amazing.”

The woman got off the bus, too, and waited with the pet her until Charlotte and Saffron arrived.

The couple got Pepper — a former rescue dog — two years ago when she was five months old. Pepper was out for a walk in Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage, Herts, when she chased after geese and disappeared.

Charlotte and Saffron looked for her without success, then started making online appeals.

Pepper turned up at Stevenage bus station to board the No 7, which she regularly takes with her owners.

Charlotte said: “We were so proud of Pepper. It was like something out of Lassie — she not only got herself to the bus station but managed to walk around it looking for our normal stop, which is right at the back. When the bus came, she jumped on board and went to the buggy bay, where she laid.

“We were so grateful that we offered to treat the lady for looking after Pepper so well and reuniting us, but she wouldn’t take anything.”