A Dog in Seattle Rode the Bus Alone to the Dog Park Every Day for 7 Years

One day in early 2015, a black Lab-Bullmastiff mix named Eclipse was waiting at a bus stop in Seattle with her owner, Jeff Young. The bus pulled up. Young was still finishing a cigarette. Eclipse did not wait.

She trotted up the steps, walked down the aisle, and sat in a seat by the window. The bus drove off. Young stood on the sidewalk, cigarette in hand, watching his dog leave without him.

Eclipse rode three stops on the D Line, got off at the Belltown dog park, and played until Young caught the next bus and met her there.

Then she did it again the next day.

And the day after that. And the day after that. For seven years.

Eclipse became the most famous commuter in Seattle. She had her own ORCA card - the city's transit payment card - clipped to her collar, because King County Metro rules require unrestrained dogs to pay fare. She was literally paying her own way.

Every bus driver on the D Line knew her. Passengers would board and find a 70-pound dog sitting calmly in a window seat, watching the streets go by. One regular passenger, Tiona Rainwater, told KOMO News: "She sits here just like a person does. She makes everybody happy. How could you not love this thing?"

Eclipse never missed her stop. She would watch out the window and jump down near the door as the park approached. Nobody trained her to do this. She just figured it out.

King County Metro embraced her completely. They called her "a true Seattle icon" and featured her in a promotional music video called "Bus Doggy Dog." Her owner co-wrote a children's book about her: Dog on Board: The True Story of Eclipse, the Bus-Riding Dog, published by Random House.

Eclipse died on October 14, 2022, at age 10. The outpouring was enormous. NPR, CNN, the Washington Post, and every Seattle outlet ran tributes.

It all started because a man stopped to finish a cigarette and his dog decided she had places to be.