Sheepdog completes 240-mile trek back to his original home

Pero made a break for it and turned up on the doorstep of his original owners 12 days later

Pero with Annie May, daughter of his original owners Shan and Alan James (PA)

It sounds like something from a Lassie episode, or a real-life re-imagining of the Disney film Homeward Bound, but one homesick dog's resilience and incredible navigational skills saw him travel 240 miles in just 12 days to be reunited with his former owners.

Four-year-old Pero had been sent to work on a farm in Cumbria, but surprised his original owners in west Wales when he turned up on the doorstep of their house, leaving them baffled as to how he found his way home.

Shan James said her husband Alan went outside their home in the village of Penrhyn-coch to find Pero waiting there.

“He was literally on the doorstep, it's very much a mystery for us how he arrived," she said.

"Some of us believe he walked it and others can't believe he achieved such a task.”

The dog was sent out to herd sheep on his new farm on 8 April, but instead made a break for it, running straight across the field and away from the farm.

Mr James found the dog 12 days later on his doorstep after a journey in which Pero would have averaged 20 miles a day if he went the most direct route.

Mrs James said the dog is microchipped, so they had been hoping he would be found after his disappearance, but they don’t think this is how he made his way home.

“If somebody had found him, we would have had a knock on the door saying ‘your dog has been found’,” she said.

The couple, who already have 14 other dogs on their farm, have decided the dog should stay given his valiant efforts to return home.

“He was in very good condition – he has been limping since but he's back out running. He's quite happy at home now,” said Mrs James.