A friendly puppy who delighted train passengers in Ireland has been reunited with his owner after a brief railway adventure.
Kapsel was generally well behaved but could not but keep his paws off the table in his excitement during the unlikely journey from Newbridge to Heuston, Dublin, on Tuesday afternoon.
During his free ride, the seven-month-old Beagle mix had a good look at Straffen, posed for pictures on board and made some new friends.
His owner joked to Metro.co.uk that he might have been trying to get away from his neutering appointment after making an uncharacteristic break for freedom when the door was left open.
But thanks to passengers, Irish Rail staff and an animal rescue centre called My Lovely Horse Rescue, he was back home in time for tea on Tuesday evening.
Once Kapsel had boarded the train, Brian Lloyd, a film journalist, branded the pet ‘such a lovely dog’, explaining that he was ‘so friendly and nice to everyone on the train’.
He tweeted pictures of Kapsel and said: ‘Anyone missing a dog in Newbridge? This chap hopped on the train to Heuston about 10 minutes ago.
‘Friendly dog, takes a pet like no problem. Has a collar but no name or details on it!’
Following the roughly 30 minute journey, during which Brian pictured Kapsel staring at Straffan, he added: ‘Staff at Heuston are looking after him, if anyone recognises him. I hope he enjoyed his little trip.’
Owner Patricia explained to Metro.co.uk that Kapsel’s antics began when her mother put out the bins and did not close the door behind her – because ‘he never runs out’.
She said: ‘But this time he decided he would go for a run.
‘Unfortunately due to her health (my mother) wasn’t able to run after him and before she got our housemate to go after him he was long gone.’
Patricia, who was at work when Kaspel ran off, continued: ‘He was later caught by a lady in the town but he got away from her and kept running.
‘He then went and got on the train and was then taken in by Anna who is a volunteer at My Lovely Horse Rescue.’
She joked: ‘He was scheduled for neutering today so he probably tried to get away from it, unfortunately that didn’t work out for him as he’s currently at the vets.’
Patricia, who uses the Twitter handle ‘Pkokuu’, had tweeted after the adventure gained traction on social media: ‘Kapsel is back home now, massive thanks to everyone who took care of him on his little adventure.
‘I’m really glad he was in safe hands, he’ll be getting a GPS tracker and a tag with my number’
She added that Kapsel is Polish for ‘bottle cap’ – an item she collects, which is why the name stuck.
Patricia also thanked Irish Rail for looking after their new friend during his solo travelling experience.
But the company appear to be well practiced in doing so, mentioning that Kapsel was just ‘another’ dog who likes to take the train from Newbridge.
And Twitter user Angela Gallagher suggested he was the third in the area ‘in recent times’ to have hopped on board for a free ride.