Our dog is back from the dead! Owner reunited with pet after saying his goodbyes to wrong animal

A DOG lover has been stunned by the return of his prized pet pooch – two days after burying what he thought was his much-loved Border terrier.

Scott Walker buried what he now knows to be roadkill at a local beauty spot – only to be reunited with missing mutt Jimmy a couple of days later.

He had been searching for Jimmy after he ran away and was told an identical dog laying flattened on the City Bypass was his, which he buried.

The 36-year-old said: “It really is a Christmas miracle.”

Mr Walker and girlfriend Cathy Herse, 35, from Leith Links, spent a week searching high and low for Jimmy after he ran off chasing a deer during a lunchtime walk in the Pentland Hills on December 10.

The couple wasted no time in printing more than 1000 flyers and 100 posters to draw attention to their plight.

Mr Walker even took a week off work from his job as a digital designer to concentrate on the search.

Five days later, they received the news they were dreading – a black and tan Border terrier had been spotted lying dead on the City Bypass within three miles of where Jimmy was last seen. Unrecognisable from the bright-eyed dog they once knew, the couple retrieved the body before laying it to rest near an oft-enjoyed walking route beside Swanston Golf Club.

However, two days later their grieving was interrupted by a phone call from a Fairmilehead resident, who had spotted a “missing” poster they had placed on a Facebook site.

She said she had Jimmy and that he was fit and well.

Mr Walker said: “I couldn’t believe it. To say we had given up hope was an understatement. We had just buried him after all. We drove over thinking it was probably another Jimmy, but it was him.

“We got a very warm welcome from him. He was limping slightly and had a wee bit of a wild look in his eye, but other than that he was fine. We took him to the vet and found that he had lost over a kilo in weight. It’s thought that he survived by maybe feeding on a dead deer carcass.”

City dog lovers were kept up-to-date with the hunt for Jimmy by way of the 2500-member Dugsnpubs Facebook group.

During his seven-day adventure, numerous sightings were posted.

Mr Walker said: “On Tuesday we got a call from someone who claimed they had seen him being hit by a car near the bypass before running off.

“That’s why we were so quick to believe it was him that we originally found. Of course, we have now buried another wee dog. It was the same colour and the same size but it was very difficult to identify.

“We had no reason not to think it wasn’t him.”

[email protected]