Missing dog in Arizona reunites with family

BUCKEYE, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA) - A dog left home alone for Christmas took himself swimming in a canal and then spent the day with the nicest firefighters.

Bentley the Golden Retreiver is back where he belongs after a whirlwind six hours.

The Jones family left home to celebrate Christmas with family in Chandler, leaving Bentley in the backyard to enjoy the cooler weather, but when they returned home he was gone.

"The gate, it latched but it didn't fully clasp all the way down," said Lauren Jones, Bentley's owner.

Jones thought back to a post she'd seen earlier on Facebook.

"I noticed a picture of a dog that looked like ours and so I asked my husband like, 'Hey, is this Bentley?' and he's like, 'No. That's not him,' and I kept scrolling and I was like, 'No, I think it is him," Jones shared.

Sure enough, it was Bentley and he was in good hands.

"I was like, 'Oh my God. Thank God he's still here,'" said Payton Jones, Jones' daughter and Bentley's other owner.

Bentley, a water lover, was found swimming in a canal near Fire Station 707, about a mile and a half away from home. The firefighters there jumped into action to save him.

"They got him on the side of the canal. He wasn't fully in the water I guess, but maybe on the side. I still don't know how they got that initial phone call or if they got a phone call or if they saw him. However it happened, we're thankful that it did," Jones expressed.

Bentley spent the rest of Christmas cozying up in the fire house until his family could pick him up.

The reunion was caught on camera, and was full of love and kisses, with the Jones family saying this was the happy ending they only could have hoped for, and will be double checking Bentley is exactly where he belongs before ever leaving home without him again.

The firefighters who rescued Bentley were now off-duty, but the family said they hope to be able to thank them for their Christmas miracle.