Dog riding LIRR train reunited with owner

Is the lost dog that was reunited with its owner on Thursday the same one that wandered onto a Long Island Rail Road train and rode it for one stop?

LIRR officials said they think it is.

On Tuesday, an unaccompanied Labrador mix rode a 7:13 p.m. westbound Ronkonkoma branch train from Wyandanch to Farmingdale, an MTA spokesman said.

LIRR officials who saw the dog board the train called MTA officers.

By the time Daniel McDade, a five-year veteran of the MTA police's canine unit, arrived, the dog had exited the Penn Station-bound train. After an unsuccessful search in the dark and rain for the dog, a commuter's tip led McDade to look under the station's platform, where he found the cowering Lab.

"I had a ball in my hand and held it out," he said. "I called out to him and he came out. As soon as he came over, I grabbed an extra leash and put the leash around him."

McDade said he took the dog to the Long Island Veterinary Specialists in Plainview.

SEE PHOTOSAnimals on the loose on LI, in NY

There, Brian Grossbard, a veterinary surgeon, said the domesticated dog was examined and found to be in good condition.

"He was definitely a pet, not a stray," Grossbard said. "He was a happily friendly dog."

Grossbard said the dog was taken to the Town of Babylon's animal shelter Thursday morning. A town shelter employee said the dog's owner called and learned his dog was at the shelter. He came to pick the lost Lab up Thursday morning, but did not want his identity released, the employee said.

LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said that the wandering canine "cannot lay claim to being the first Long Island Rail Road dog. That claim goes to Roxey."

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years

That's the name of the stray dog that wandered into the Garden City LIRR station in the early 1900s. Roxey soon became a regular fixture on trains, and is said to have even befriended then-President Theodore Roosevelt during one trip.

Roxey's gravestone can be found near LIRR's Merrick station. His story was told in a children's book released last year, "Miles of Smiles: The Story of Roxey, the Long Island Rail Road Dog."

As with the book, Calderone said he was glad the most recent incident "came to a happy ending."