All aboard the doggy bus! They’re not your typical commuters, but on this bus these pooches are by far the cutest.
The dog bus was customised by an Alaskan couple, Mo and Lee Thompson, for their dog-walking and training business, Mo Mountain Mutts, which has 41 furry students.
The duo lead off-leash pack walks three times a day and the humorous videos of the dogs' bus ride to their walking destination has caught people's attention all over the world.
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The pickup routine consists of the minibus stopping in front of a dog's house, where the pooches are usually waiting eagerly outside.
They leap into the bus with tails wagging as soon as the doors open and the couple does a fun obedience drill for the pooches to find their assigned seat, get strapped in and receive a treat.
@mo_mountain_mutts You guys asked to see the dogs getting on the bus #foryou #dogs #puppybus #alaska ? original sound - Mo_Mountain_Mutts
One of their passengers, Amaru, a five-year-old rescue dog, anxiously awaits the bus every morning on the front lawn of his home.
“He got used to sitting in that spot. He even looks in the direction he knows they’re going to come,” said Amaru’s owner, Gary Hisman.
“He’s a very smart guy,” he told the Washington Post.
The couple know all the dogs by name and are well acquainted with every dog’s personality and habits.
"Jake: he walks in and gets in his own seat. Amaru’s outside sitting on the kerb waiting for the bus. Bama just gets in, lets the dogs sniff her, mingles back to her seat and then Slade just comes, like, flying on, jumps in his seat and starts making out with Otis,” Mo says.
When Mo, a Skagway resident, began by walking friends' dogs during her lunch breaks at work, she never imagined it would lead to a dog-walking business.
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“I started working with some teachers at a local school and it was just kind of a ripple effect of, ‘Hey, I heard you’re really good with dogs. Can you help me?' And then I needed a second pack-walk because I started grouping dogs together by their personalities. So we had our morning crew and our afternoon crew. Then it just grew to the point where I needed help from Lee,” Mo says.
Lee's videos of their four-legged bus regulars are posted on the business’ social media account where they often go viral.
“They’ve kept all of our spirits up,” says Jim Higgins, the owner of pack member, Murray.
“I look in the rearview mirror of the bus as I’m driving sometimes and I see all the dogs back there and I can’t believe we do this for a living,” Lee says.
Sources: people.com, washingtonpost.com, ktoo.org