THE owner of a dog who made his way onto a train in Wokingham this morning has said of her relief at having him back safe and sound.
Manny, a seven-year-old British Bulldog, went missing from his home in Barkham Road this morning without owner Roxzann Weston realising.
She said: “We’re on half term this week so I was getting ready to take the kids out for the day, put the recycling bin out and that’s when he must have got out.
“I didn’t even realise he was gone until my friend messaged me to say he was all over Facebook.”
At first Roxzann couldn’t believe the pictures were of her dog until she went to check his bed and realised he had gone.
STRAY DOG BOARDS TRAIN AT WOKINGHAM STATION, AN APPEAL HAS BEEN LAUNCHED TO FIND ITS OWNER
South West Trains raised the alarm by tweeting a photo of Manny shortly before 10.30am. The photo was quickly shared on social media, where it made its way to the Wokingham Gossip Girls Facebook group. A friend of Roxzann saw the photo and called her.
She said: “I suppose it’s my fault really because I often walk him without a lead, so he’s used to walking on his own, but he’s never done anything like this before.
“I went to the local shop where we often go and asked the shopkeeper if they had seen him, and they said that he’d been in 20 minutes before. He just wandered in, had a look around and then left.
“How he managed to get on a train I don’t know, it must have just been timing and he got there just as a train pulled up.”
UNACCOMPANIED DOG WHICH HOPPED ON A TRAIN IN WOKINGHAM IS REUNITED WITH ITS OWNER
Roxzann said the dog, who she has had since a puppy, is scared of bicycles and usually runs away when he sees them.
She said: “He is very friendly and so initially I was worried that someone might have patted him on the head or given him some food and that would have been it, he would have gone off with them for good.
“Thankfully the man who caught him saw him trying to get off the train at Winnersh, he put a scarf around him and took him to Reading where he handed him to the police. Manny is microchipped so they quickly found me.
“Unfortunately Manny is malting at the moment so he made a mess of the poor man’s scarf. I offered to cover his dry cleaning bill but he refused.
“Manny’s a very clever dog, he and his brother Monty, also seven, manage to get their food out of the cupboards and make their way through the front door.
“One time he did manage to make his way into my son’s primary school playground. We’re not sure how he did it, but the next day we dressed him up in the school’s uniform.
“It seems that he’s become a bit of a local celebrity!’
