A loyal dog trudged 125 miles "with tears in her eyes" in a desperate attempt to return home to her owner, who had rejected the pet.

Despite suffering wounds to her paws, determined Bullmastiff "Maru" trekked through Russian forests - riddled with brown bears and wolves.

Loyal Maru had tried to return to her owner, trekking 125 miles through dangerous forest in Russia

The dog's paws were injured as a result of the lengthy walk

Maru had been sent back on the Trans-Siberian train to the kennels where she was born.

Her ordeal started after her owner in Krasnoyarsk discovered she was allergic to the loveable one-year-old pet and so decided that she didn't want to keep her any more.

But loyal Maru escaped when the train heading west to Novosibirsk - where she was bred - stopped at a remote station near Achinsk.

Using her paws to open a compartment door, she made a dash for freedom, and to flee back to the owner who gave her up.

Train staff looking after the spurned pet shouted her name on the platform, but to no avail, reported The Siberian Times.

Kennel owner Alla Morozova, based in Novosibirsk city, organised a search for the lost Bullmastiff and pleaded on social media for information.

Amazingly, two-and-a-half-days later, the exhausted and wounded dog was found at an industrial estate close to her home.

She had walked close to the Trans-Siberian railway track

Alla Morozova, owner of the dog kennel which sold Maru to his original owner

The dog had apparently walked close to the Trans-Siberian railway track in her bid to return home

Alla said the rejected dog appeared “to have tears in her eyes”.

Maru had walked east, near to the Trans-Siberian railway track - the longest in the world - and had covered 125 miles through wild countryside.

The exhausted pet fell down a railway embankment in Krasnoyarsk, before being found and recognised because of the social media campaign.

Alla said it was "lucky" she didn't become a meal for bears or wolves in the area.

She said the dog was very tired and lame, as the pads on her paws were injured and bleeding.

Train staff told Alla that the dog had suffered a “panic attack” and when the train stopped, she “jumped on the compartment door, and almost knocked the conductor out of the way.

“She jumped out like a bullet.

“When the door opened to the platform, she jumped out into the night, into the taiga (swampy Siberian forest).”

Alla - who said she was in awe of Maru's navigation skills - is convinced the dog would have reached her old home several miles away but for her injuries.

She added: “I'm sure that she was looking for her house. Dogs are very attached to people.

“She did not run to Novosibirsk - she wanted to go back where she lived.”

Maru “went the right way” even though “geographically she had no reference points”.

Alla was “angry” that the owner who rejected the dog did not join the search for the lost pet.

Maru was later driven to Novosibirsk and is currently undergoing treatment for her injuries.

The animal has been reunited with her mother and father, who still live at the Novosibirsk kennels.

No decision has been made on her future yet.

Maru in Krasnoyarsk - she was found with 'tears' in her eyes

Maru at the dog shelter in Krasnoyarsk, after she was discovered injured

The loyal dog had escaped when the train heading west to Novosibirsk stopped at a remote station

Reunited with her parents - it's hoped she'll find a new home

- The Sun