Though there have been huge strides in legislation that aim to protect the welfare of dogs in the last few years, when it comes to packing our pooches around with us in public it’s a different story. Most public transit systems don’t allow for dogs to be on the bus, but one sweet Labrador dog is helping to change that.

Eclipse is one smart Labrador that knows how to get to where she’s going, so long as it’s by bus, that is.

The Labrador lives in Seattle with her owner Jeff, and every day the two usually take a bus together to go to a nearby park.

Things happen quickly in the Emerald City if you aren’t paying attention, and that’s exactly what Jeff found out when he turned around at the bus stop to find that his dog was missing.

Jeff and Eclipse had been waiting for the bus to go to the park when Jeff spotted some friends. He went to say ‘Hi’ and ended up chatting longer than he’d realized. Not only had he missed his bus, but Eclipse was suddenly nowhere to be found.

Thankfully, it turned out the witty Labrador just decided to take the bus to the park by herself that day.

Fortunately, the bus driver was pretty familiar with the dog and her park-going routine. So, when he saw her board he just let her on and kept driving. What’s truly amazing is that when he pulled up to the park, Eclipse knew exactly where to get off at. Her owner, knowing that is the only place they really frequent while riding the bus, walked over to the park and found her playing just like she normally would.

Jeff knows just how smart his pup is, so he decided to do a little experimenting.

He let his self-sufficient Lab take the bus on her own a few more times, just to see if she’d stick to their routine. Sure enough, each time he went to the dog park after leaving her at the bus stop, she’d be there. Then, she even began returning back home all on her own as well!

After seeing how happy it made Eclipse to be able to go to the park whenever she wanted, Jeff spoke with the transit company that ran his bus route and requested that Eclipse be given permission to ride on her own permanently. Surprisingly, they actually said yes!

Jeff even went out of his way to make sure it was okay with local law enforcement, and the police said that they were totally cool with it so long as the transit company didn’t mind.

Of course, the bus drivers that get to see Eclipse didn’t mind her being a passenger one bit. In fact, they and seemingly all the passengers welcome her with open arms whenever she boards the bus.

Jeff and the transit company even made Eclipse’s right to ride official by giving her her very own bus pass!

Now she can hop on whenever she feels like it and the bus pass lets the drivers and other passengers know that she is A-okay to ride on her own.

Since being given the pass, both literally and figuratively, the Labrador has become a bit of a local celebrity.

Every time she rides the bus, there seems to be no shortage of people that want to love on her and get their picture taken with her. We can’t really blame them, either. She sure does look like an awful lot of fun to be around.

The sweet Lab is so popular, in fact, that she even has her very own Facebook page dedicated to her called Eclipse Seattle’s Bus Riding Dog.

While you might think that going to the park by herself would get lonesome for the adventurous Lab, when she arrives she usually finds a whole pack of friends to play with.

There seems to be no question that the Labrador loves her daily outings to the park, either alone or with her human.

“This is Eclipse. Every day she leaves her house, by herself, and takes the bus downtown to the dog park where she spends a couple of hours getting exercise and making friends, and then she takes the bus back home again. She even has her own bus pass attached to the collar,” one Facebook post reads.

Eclipse is doing a fantastic job of helping people to see dogs riding public transit differently, and the City of Seattle is giving her all the support she could ever want. Hopefully, it won’t be long before other cities follow suit.

Lord knows the people can use all the time with happy, loving dogs like Eclipse that they can get. To learn more about Eclipse the Bus Riding Dog, check out her story in the video below.

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Source: Bored Panda/CGTN America