When one thinks about what a dog is able to accomplish in its life, some will tell you it’s sleeping and eating.
Others will say it’s bringing infinite joy and unconditional love into the lives of those who the dog has touched.
Eclipse the dog accomplished all of those things. She also learned to ride the bus alone in her hometown of Seattle, became an internet superstar, and brought joy to thousands of people, if not millions, who heard her story.
Eclipse was a super sweet, world-famous, bus riding dog and true Seattle icon.
You brought joy and happiness to everyone and showed us all that good dogs belong on the bus. pic.twitter.com/YhSFjNGU05
— King County Metro 🚏 🚌🚎⛴🚐 (@KingCountyMetro) October 14, 2022
That’s why Eclipse is being remembered as a “Seattle icon.”
The 10-year-old black lab/bullmastiff mix passed away peacefully in her sleep on Oct. 14, 2022.
“Eclipse was a super sweet, world-famous, bus-riding dog and true Seattle icon,” King County Metro wrote on Twitter. “You brought joy and happiness to everyone and showed us all that good dogs belong on the bus.”
Jeff Young adopted Eclipse when she was just 10-months-old. They used to ride the red bus together to go to the dog park all the time.
One day in 2015, Eclipse snuck away while her daddy wasn’t looking and got on the bus all by herself.
She knew exactly where the bus stop was and where to get off. She would go straight to the dog park about a block and a half away. After that first adventure, she rode that bus just about every single day.
She’ll hop in an empty seat or one next to a stranger.
But Eclipse always makes sure to be able to see out the window.
That’s how she can tell where her bus stop is.
“All the bus drivers know her. She sits here just like a person does,” commuter Tiona Rainwater told Associated Press. “She makes everybody happy. How could you not love this face?”
Once people started noticing that Eclipse was a regular on the bus, she became an internet superstar.
“It makes their day,” Young told KOMO News. “It’s a good part of their day, and it works out for her, so I just let it go.”
Young would get calls about once a week from people saying they found his dog nearby.
He would just tell them that her roaming around is totally normal and that she’s totally fine on her own.
Eclipse has been featured by news outlets all over the world.
She even had her own social media presence with more than 122,000 followers on Facebook.
“The celebrity kind of got out of hand,” Young told USA Today.
Eclipse’s absence will definitely be felt on Seattle’s King County Metro line.
Young says the kind words from Eclipse’s fans are helping him to get through the loss of his “best friend.
Eclipse was diagnosed with cancerous tumors before she died.
“Missing her doesn’t even cover it,” he said. “Even on bad days, I could turn over and look at her and it never did seem so bad.”
Watch Eclipse ride the bus in the video below.
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