Carson Urness is a three-year-old from Cooperstown, North Dakota, who gave his parents a huge shock on Monday night when he went missing, only to be found a few hours later being kept safe by the family dog a mile away.

Carson’s parents were first alerted to the problem when he didn’t come in for dinner, as he had been out playing on the farmland. They became extremely worried when they realised Cooper, the family dog, was also missing and they alerted police, who began a search.

Over 200 volunteers showed up to help, but given that night had fallen and there had been no luck, they were on the point of calling off the search until morning, according to GlobalNews.ca.

However, just before the order was given to send everyone home, one searcher spotted Cooper lying on the grass, and when they got close enough, they realised that Carson was there too, safe and sound, with Cooper lying on top of him to protect him from the rain and cold.

Cooper had been rescued as an abandoned puppy by the Urness family on the side of the road a few years ago, and there's no doubt in the family's mind that he definitely paid them back on Monday night. That doesn't mean that he won't still get the odd bit of steak this week though...

Via CNN