Miranda with Pugsie and dog warden Alexandra Whittington

An adventurous dog sent her owner on a 120-mile rescue mission after she boarded a train on her own while out on a walk.
Pugsie-Mfanwy the jug (pug crossed with jack russell) decided to bolt for the westbound train as her owner, this magazine’s editor Miranda Robertson, was walking her, along with pug Hugo and cat Kitten-Mitten near the train station in Maiden Newton.
The five-year-old dog always tries to board trains and if there’s a train in the station Miranda always keeps them on the lead till well clear of the platform.
However on this occasion there was no train as she passed and the dogs were off the lead. Miranda had walked some distance from the station when she looked down to see Hugo… but no Pugsie. An hour of frantic searching ensued, and two panicked Facebook posts were written in haste before a train guard replied with his number.
Miranda said: “I really thought something terrible had happened to Pugsie as she’s usually around my legs, trying to trip me up.
“I was dreading telling my son I had lost his dog.
“So when I heard she was being kept safe at Westbury I couldn’t be angry at her – I was just so relieved.”
While she is chipped, Pugsie’s tag had been lost – or Miranda would have been contacted sooner.
Wiltshire dog warden Alexandra Whittingham said: “I was called to reports of a little dog left on a train that had been picked up at Westbury station and was in the control office keeping warm.
“I got there to find little Pugsie asleep on the lap of one of the GWR employees.
“Luckily, her mum was already on the way. I was shocked to find out that she had put herself on the train, possibly in search of an adventure! But very pleased she was safe and well and feel very lucky to have met such a confident, adventurous little dog!
“Hopefully she only boards the train with her mum in future!”