The Oates family had given up hope of seeing its beloved Staffordshire bull terrier T-Bone again after he was snatched from outside their home. Last night, they were reunited after he was found aboard a bus from Birmingham city centre to Solihull town, the Daily Express reported.
Pat Oates and her three children feared good-natured T-Bone had been stolen by a gang.
They now believe he was dumped after developing a cyst and hopped on the bus undetected. After the driver spotted T-Bone, he was taken to a vet who checked his microchip.
"The kids are so happy to have him back. Some of them were only young but they had fond memories of him. We were all devastated when he was stolen from our driveway in 2006," said Oates.
"We put up posters and made appeals in the papers but had no luck; so it came out of the blue to hear he had been found nearby. I broke down in tears. It is like having your child back."
She said even if it was going to cost 300 pounds for the operation to remove their pet's cyst, it was worth it to have him back.
