A PENRHYNCOCH family have been left “mystified” after a sheepdog they sent for a trial with a farmer 240 miles away in Cumbria miraculously turned up on their doorstep again.

At the end of March, Pero, a four-year-old working sheepdog born on the James family’s farm at Penbanc, was sent up to a farm in Cockermouth for a trial with a farmer who required the services of a sheepdog who could follow a quad bike and round up sheep.

But farmer Alan James and wife Sian, who live with their children Owain, 26, Llyr, 24, John, 22, and twins Tomos and Annie May, both eight, were left stunned when Pero made its way home to their Penryhncoch farm 12 days later.

Mrs James said: “Alan came up for supper and went back out afterwards, and who was there on the doorstep but Pero!

“I didn’t believe him, but he was there going around in circles, really excited to see Alan. Alan trained him and is Pero’s master.

“I was totally mystified – I was expecting someone to say it was a joke or that they had dropped him off.

“I was completely flabbergasted by it all.”See this week's south editions for the full story, in shops and online tomorrow