It is a Christmas miracle for Scott Walker when he was reunited with his missing dog days after burying a another dog he believed to be his beloved Jimmy.

Jimmy had gone missing after he ran after a deer on a lunchtime walk in the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, Scotland. Scott searched frantically for his Border Terrier and he and his girlfriend Cathy Herse, looked for Jimmy for a week but could not find any trace of him. They printed over a 1000 flyers, posted information to Facebook and Scott took a week off his work to concentrate on the search.

After 5 days they reeived a call, but it was not one they were hoping for. The person had seen  a black and tan Border Terrier lying dead on a road near 3 miles from where Jimmy was last seen. The dog's body was unrecognizable except for his breed. Scott and Cathy retrieved the dog's body, layed it to rest at one of Jimmy's favorite spots and said their goodbyes.

Two days later, the grieving couple received another phone call from a woman who said she had Jimmy and the dog had wandered into her yard. She said she had Jimmy and he was doing well.

Scott told the Scotsman, “I couldn’t believe it. It really is a Christmas miracle. 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."

During the time Jimmy was missing, locals had posted numerous sightings to a Facebook group page and prior to burying the unknown dog, Scott and Cathy had received a call from someone claiming they had seen Jimmy hit by a car near a bypass before running away. Scott said that's why they were so quick to believe it was Jimmy who they had found.

Scott thanked all the dog lovers who joined in the search for Jimmy but also expressed concern that someone else may be missing the dog that they buried.

When they arrived and picked him up, Jimmy was happy to see them. "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." A vet checked over Jimmy and said he had lost a kilo. Scott wrote, "When he came home he grabbed a toy and wanted to play, UNREAL!!"

• Border Terrier
• Scotland
• missing dog