Technology

Twitter has gained a new canine tweeter by the name of Patch, but more importantly, Twitter reunited Patch the dog with his owner. It all started Tuesday night in Dublin, Ireland when Patch, a Jack Russell terrier, got separated from his owner and boarded a commuter train. Bewildered commuters took turns petting the dog, and the rail workers dubbed him "Checkers," joking that maybe the dog was a new worker sent to check people's tickets. By the time the train reached its last stop and it became obvious no owner was aboard, rail workers took to Twitter.

Irish Rail tweeted, "Lost Dog!" with a photo of the brown and white little pooch. Followers began retweeting the message. Soon, there were 500 tweets within half an hour. One of them reached Deirdre Anglin, who tweeted back, "That's my dog!"

Workers say it was a good thing Anglin claimed the dog so quickly, because they were getting so attached to him that someone may have taken the pup home.

This isn't the first time Twitter has been used to help find a lost pet. In May, baseball Hall of Famer George Brett spread the word of his lost Labradoodle through Twitter -- at the suggestion of his son. In Dublin, the Twittersphere's reaction to Patch highlighted that country's common use of social media. I myself would suggest dog tags and a microchip rather than hoping Twitter will do the trick, but at least in this case, it worked.

Once Patch was reunited with Anglin, there was only one thing left to do. Get Patch on Twitter! The pooch's first tweet was:

Hi Everyone :D i learned how to use this Twitter thingy after it helped me find my way home.. Thanks @IrishRail and @DeirdreCA woof woof

— Patch (@patchtraveldog) July 4, 2012

Patch's tweet stream is dedicated to finding other lost pooches. This is one little dog who is not only social media savvy -- but a hero.

Have you ever used social media to find a lost pet?

Image via ijyt/Flickr