An English family was left stunned when their dog escaped only to return later that day with a ribbon won at a local dog show.

Peter and Paula Closier became sick with worry when their five-year-old beagle-mix vanished on Sunday morning.

They called the police, the dog warden, and looked all over their house in West Sussex-and their neighbors also joined in the search for little Bonnie.

When Peter saw that the gate had swung open, he thought 'oh no'.

Little did they know that John Wilmer had spotted Bonnie by the side of the road while on his way to a dog show in Surrey where he was entering his own two dogs.

Soon after, the family's fears were eased when Paula spotted a Facebook post by John hoping to locate the pet's owners. He was running late for the dog show and asked, 'does anyone know this dog'?

John then decided to enter Bonnie into the competition. He thought "I might as well enter her into the ‘best rescue dog' category".

And she returned to her family with a third place ribbon!

"We couldn't believe it," says Peter. "You could not make it up."

When she was just one-year-old, the couple rescued Bonnie from the streets of Crete, in Greece, but they had never entered the pup into any competitions.

"We never pursued it with Bonnie, but we should now."

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