This man built a 'dog train' to take rescued strays on mini adventures

Friday marks National Dog Day. The day of the year when the internet comes together to share its appreciation of man's (and woman's) best friend.

How that differs from every other day of the year, we're not quite sure...

Nevertheless, what better way to celebrate the day than by sharing one of our favourite pieces of dog content of the past year?

Back in September, news emerged of the enterprising Eugene Bostick, an 80-year-old who looks after nine stray dogs on his farm in Fort Worth, Texas.

Bostick, a retired railroad employee, has built a train made of fibreglass barrels which he tows along by his lawnmower to take his squad for a ride.

Twice a week, Bostick takes the dogs for an hour-long jaunt around the 11-acre farm and the local golf course.

He told the Dodo:

One day I was out and I seen this guy with a tractor who attached these carts to pull rocks. I thought, 'Dang, that would do for a dog train.'

I'm a pretty good welder, so I took these plastic barrels with holes cut in them, and put wheels under them and tied them together.

He's become something of a local celebrity for his efforts:

And a crowdfunding page set up by a neighbour even raised over $16,000 to pay his expenses.

But Bostick doesn't do it for the money, he just loves the dogs:

I'm getting up in age. I'm 80 now, so I suppose it can't last too much longer, but I'll keep it going as long as I can. The dogs have a great time. They just really enjoy it.

More: Duke the dog has been elected the mayor of his town for the third year in a row