About 400 kilometres in fact.

The bull Arab pup wandered out of an open gate and onto the streets of the state’s Northern Tablelands a few weeks ago where a ranger picked him up.

Rocky was impounded for seven days and when his owners wouldn’t pay he was scheduled to be euthanised.

Luckily Guyra vet Ainslie Lund recognised his beautiful nature and put him into foster care instead.

In that time he refused to chase sheep, showed no interest in horses, and walked quietly on his lead.

Weeks of searching for a new home, which included an advert in the Lower Hunter Star, eventually turned up Cath Neasbey at Glen Oak between Paterson and Clarence Town.

“I’ve wanted another dog for a long time and he needed a home,” she said.

“He’s a bull Arab [and] I’ve always wanted one.

“They’re so dopey and kind.

“And he’s a big dog, I love big dogs.”

Lorn’s Patricia Ross Gould, who placed the ad on the vet’s behalf, drove with Miss Neasbey last Friday to collect Rocky at the halfway point.

“We met him at Gloucester and had a play at the park with a few of the other [adoption] dogs,” Miss Neasbey said.

“When we came back he just lied in my lap the whole way home.”

Rocky, about 12 months old, will join a Staffordshire terrier, maremma and a kelpie on a five hectare property with the sheep, goats and horses.

This pup has some growing to do yet – likely to weigh in at 40 kilograms fully grown – in more ways than one. “[His name] might change yet,” Miss Neasbey said.

“It might be ‘Oi’ or ‘Willis’.”