More than two weeks after getting lost at The Brook, a wayward family pet has made it home to Stoke, astonishing his owners.



On Tuesday, the Nelson Mail's light-hearted news section, Nelson's Column, published a mysterious poster seen at Old Codger's Trail, which announced that "Doyle" had been found, and thanked the community for its help in searching for him.



Who was Doyle, and what happened to him? The mystery was solved when Peta-Lee Buckley contacted the paper and explained the story, which she says has left the family stunned.



"Animals are truly amazing," Mrs Buckley says.

"We have no idea how he did it ... we were completely shocked and thrilled to have our gorgeous dog back."



The family adopted mixed-breed Doyle about two years ago after they fostered him for six weeks while he took part in a Nelson Ark rehabilitation course.



Mrs Buckley said that by the end of the course the entire family had fallen in love with their former stray an "incredibly sweet, shy and gentle dog".



"Doyle is very special to us," she said. But they feared the worst when Doyle went missing on Good Friday.



At Easter, they were holidaying in Blenheim, leaving Doyle in the care of friends.



The friends took him for a walk up the mountainbike trail, near the top of The Brook. But during the walk Doyle took fright and raced off up a hill.



When Glen Buckley heard the news that the beloved family pet was missing, he drove back from Blenheim to try to find him.

He walked and called for hours, even putting Doyle's blanket at the spot where he was last seen to give him something to come back to.



After searching again the next morning, Mr Buckley returned to Blenheim for the rest of the holiday.

Once back in Nelson, he put up signs on Old Codger's Trail, asking people to contact them if they spotted Doyle, and spent every night and weekend looking for him, to no avail.



The Buckley's three children, all under 12, were "pretty worried", Mrs Buckley said.

"I think they thought Glen would eventually find him, so they kept hanging on to that. But they all had their moments when they suddenly thought he wouldn't come back."



But unknown to them, Doyle was making his own way home.



On April 16 a mountainbiker spotted him at the Maitai, and he was seen again on April 19 on the farm behind Saxton Field.

Finally, on April 22, the Buckleys arrived home to find Doyle waiting outside their gate in Stoke, very skinny but no worse for wear. He'd travelled about 10 kilometres on his own.



Mrs Buckley suspected that he'd stumbled on the Railway Reserve, a regular running route for the pair, and followed it home.



"He was very happy to see us when we arrived, just as happy as we were to see him," Mrs Buckley said.



Motueka veterinarian and dog behavioural expert Matt Evans said it was an unusual story, as dogs didn't roam a region as freely as cats did.



"I've certainly come across it where they've gone missing in an area and they've turned up at the start of the track two weeks later, but to navigate their way home that's quite rare for dogs."