Sheepdog Hates New Job, Treks 240 Miles Back Home

A sheepdog sent away by its Welsh owners to work on a farm in Cumbria didn't like his new assignment and ended up back at his original home—after apparently making the 240-mile trek back on his own, the Guardian reports. Pero made a run for it on April 8 and turned back up at the home of Alan and Shan James on April 20. "We'd been told that Pero had disappeared, and was nowhere to be seen," Shan James tells the BBC. "But then, last Wednesday evening … my husband Alan went out to check on the animals after supper and there was Pero on our doorstep."

The family has no idea how Pero made the long trip or how he managed to sustain himself during his journey. "He wasn't hungry or weak, so he must have managed to find food somewhere," Shan James notes. A dog behaviorist tells the Telegraph that such a feat, while it doesn't happen every day, isn't unheard of, as working dogs like Pero have "amazing spatial memory" and "some sort of tracking mechanism to where they live," as well as the ability to put in dozens of miles a day thanks to their work ethic. At any rate, Pero is now staying put with the Jameses. "I don't think it would be fair for us to send Pero away again," Shan James says. "He obviously enjoys his home." (A dog lost at sea turned up weeks later.)