Mystery still remains as to how 5-year-old Duke the Jack Russell Terrier got to Terrey Hills back in November, but thanks to a little detective work by a Council ranger he has been reunited with his elderly owner just in time for Christmas. 

Duke was found wondering around The Palms eatery in Terrey Hills on 18 November and was picked up by Taylor one of the wait staff on shift. She asked around to see who owned Duke, but no one came forward. 

“My partner and I temporarily named him Carlos and decided to take him home to look after him until we could reunite him with his mum and/or dad. We put up a post on Facebook and had lots of offers to re-home him but couldn’t locate his actual owner. He was a very sweet little guy. We’re so glad he is back home,” Taylor said. 

A Council ranger checked his microchip and much to his surprise discovered it was linked to a Narrabri landline – 500+km away. He tried continually to get a hold of the owner and just when he thought all hope was lost after five days of trying, an 86-year-old man named Kevin answered the phone.

Kevin confirmed Duke had been missing for over a week and had no idea how he got to the big smoke! We can only assume he wanted to outdo Red Dog the movie based on a true story about an Australian cattle dog who went searching for his missing master in Western Australia.   

With the mystery solved, now was the mammoth effort to figure out how to get him back home, but nothing Council couldn’t handle. 

Duke was escorted back via Pet Uber to Newcastle to stay with Kevin’s granddaughter for a couple of days until her husband was able to drive Duke back to Narrabri. 

Duke’s owner Kevin said while this isn’t the first time he had gone walkabouts, this was certainly a new record for him. 

“Duke didn’t come home around the usual time after he’d gotten out, so I went to his usual spots to have a look. I checked the caravan park which is a usual hot spot of his but he wasn’t there so I walked around the streets close to home and couldn’t find him. 

“I then called my granddaughter Molly so when she finished work we went to check the pound but to no avail. 

“I didn’t know he was really missing until someone rang me from Mona Vale but I didn’t expect him to be all the way down there. 

“I was surprised and shocked that Duke had actually got that far. I thought he’d only get as far as Gunnedah not Sydney! Someone must have picked him up because he wouldn’t have went on his own.”

Merry Christmas to Kevin and Duke! We suspect Kevin will be keeping a close eye on Duke for some time ahead.