Lost dog from Bolney wins rosette at Felbridge show before returning to delighted family

Bonnie, a five-year-old rescue dog from Crete, surprised her family in Cowfold Road, by winning third place in a rescue dog category after escaping on Sunday, July 10.

Paula Closier, her husband Peter and their kids were overjoyed at the bizarre outcome when fellow dog lover John Wilmer brought her back.

Paula, 48, said Bonnie had escaped after becoming excited by some other dogs outside earlier that day.

“Because she’s a street dog she’s not trained,” she said, adding that there was a ‘Bonnie sized gap’ in her gate.

Paula, who is a dental technician with her husband, had an urgent denture repair to handle, but Peter and the neighbours went off searching for two hours in the hot sun.

“Nobody knew at this stage that probably five or ten minutes after she ran off somebody had found her,” said Paula.

But, she explained, the man who found her, John Wilmer, did not know where Bonnie was from because she was not wearing her collar.

“He was on his way to a dog show with his his two dogs,” she said, adding that John put Bonnie in his car, took a photo, and put a post on Facebook.

Paula also put a Facebook post out and eventually got in contact with John.

She said Bonnie looked ‘as happy as anything’ having an adventure in John’s car.

Speaking to the BBC, John said he was in a rush to get to the dog show.

“She was such a lovely dog, I thought it'd be good to enter her,” he said.

Paula said she had no idea about Bonnie’s victory until after John returned her.

“I just thought ‘that's brilliant’,” she said.

“Not for one millisecond were my husband and I upset about it, we were just so grateful that a dog lover had rescued her and everything after that was hilarious.”

She added: “It’s a book in the making as far as I’m concerned.”

Paula said she wants to highlight the work of Cretan Animal Protection who re-home abandoned pets on Crete.

Both her dogs Bonnie and Cleo were rescued by the charity.

Readers can find out more on Cretan Animal Protection’s Facebook page.