Many dog owners just wouldn’t feel complete without their pups sleeping by their side or at their feet each night. There’s something so comforting about a dog’s presence that many end up designating part of their beds to their pets or even buying larger beds to accommodate their furry friends.
Jimmy and Julia Johnson of Polk County, Tennessee, are dog lovers and welcome their three pups — Jupiter, Hollis and Zeplin — onto their bed at night.
So it wasn’t at all unusual when a dog crept onto the bed one night and settled in.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until morning light, when Julia looked over at the comfy dog and realized it wasn’t theirs.
“It is absolutely normal to wake up in our house with one of OUR dogs in the bed with us,” Julia posted on Facebook on May 1. “One small problem, THIS IS NOT OUR DOG, nor do we know how she got in our house.
“At first, we thought it was one of ours, but they rarely lay [sic] on the pillows! In pitch darkness, I just assumed it was. Wouldn’t we all?
“As daylight began to creep in through our curtains we realized we were snuggling with someone else’s dog.
“This is the weirdest post I have ever had to make. Is this your dog?”
The dog Julia shared photos of looked perfectly content to lounge on the unfamiliar couple’s bed, but the couple was perplexed: How in the world had the dog even gotten into their house?
According to PennLive, part of the mystery was why the Johnsons’ own dogs hadn’t sent up the alarm over this intruder. They were known to bark at anything that passed, but for some reason they seemed unbothered by this new canine presence.
Julia also wrote on her post that the dog was clean and her paws were soft, so she likely hadn’t been living on the streets.
After the story went out, an owner responded and immediately made arrangements to pick her up: Apparently, the dog’s name was Nala, and she’d wandered from her home about two miles away.
The best the Johnsons can guess is that she found their house and sneaked in through an open door.
“[T]hank you!!” owner Felecia Johnson commented on the original post. “She thinks she is a tiny doggo and doesn’t realize she’s that big. You’re amazing and I thank you for keeping her safe.”
