The little dog that made a big 1,500 kilometre journey from Queensland to South Australia after hitching a ride on a truck will make the trek home next week.
Rusty the dog went missing earlier this month from Stuart Scudamore's cattle property at Goondiwindi on the Queensland and New South Wales border.
A week later Mr Scudamore received a phone call from Snowtown, South Australia.
It turned out Rusty was in the care of a family in South Australia after a truck driver discovered Rusty in the truck's cabin on his journey home.
An appeal went out on social media seeking help from anyone passing through who could drop Rusty off.
Thankfully a pet transport company has offered to return Rusty to his owners.
Owner Stuart Scudamore said the family was looking forward to having Rusty back.
"We're very excited to have him back. I mean he's a special little dog and he's very dear to our family but he's still a naughty little bugger," Mr Scudamore said.
Heather Reid, who has been looking after Rusty in Snowtown, said she was glad to help.
"I just wanted to find his family and made sure he got home," Ms Reid said.
"We know he loves them."
Her husband Paul McDowell was the truck driver who discovered Rusty in his cabin, she said he enjoyed the company on the trip south.
"He said he stopped at Bourke but he couldn't even let him out because it was 50 degrees, he said the road was just too hot," she said.
"He just put him on his pillow and he just slept under the air-con the whole time, while Paul had to sleep on his bag because he had no pillow."
She said Rusty had been great company for her family's five-month-old French mastiff.
"[Our dog] is a puppy, five months old, but she's big and she lays on him and he [nips] her legs to get her off - it's all play, it's really quite cute."
The family lost their other dog in an accident just days before Rusty's arrival, so said the Aussie terrier had helped cheer them up.
Rusty proved to be a slightly fussy eater as Mr McDowell shared his meals during the long ride.
"He was feeding him dim sims, he said he absolutely loved dim sims," Ms Reid laughed.
"He gave him his chow mein but, as he was eating out of the bowl, he was taking each carrot piece and chucking it out.
"[Paul] told me 'This little dog he just doesn't like carrot, he's picking every little piece of it out'."
This is not the first time Rusty has hit the highway.
In 2016 he was found up in Chinchilla, more than 200 kilometres from home.
