A pensioner found by a rescue dog when he went missing for almost a week was paid a surprise visit by his four-legged hero - just hours before he went walkabouts again.

Dennis Whyard would have missed his 90th birthday celebrations on Saturday if he hadn’t been found by springer spaniel Sprocket in the grounds of Maplesden Noakes School in June.

Mr Whyard, who has dementia, had walked from his home in Forest Hill, Tovil, to Buckland Road where he was last seen on CCTV - five days before he was eventually discovered.

Miraculously he was found alive and after treatment by medics was given a GPS tracking watch to prevent a repeat excursion.

The watch proved invaluable as he managed to walk out of his residential home in Chatham at around 10pm on Sunday.

Son Mick said: “I never dreamt he would go missing from a care home.

“At first I didn’t know how to use the watch but you text an international number and the position and location comes up on Google Maps.

“If we didn’t have the watch he could have gone in any direction.”

Mick, 55, was joined by the rest of the Whyard family during a party in Rainham after a hectic couple of months following his dad’s initial disappearance on June 1.

He said: “My dad has no recollection of the whole thing.

“When Sprocket and Ben found him he was under brambles. If the dog wasn’t called in then nobody would have found him.

“He was unconscious and they didn’t expect him to be alive. They gave him first aid and then called an ambulance.

“I took time off work and we were walking the streets in Maidstone until 10pm. I must have walked more than 20 miles.

“My dad only came out of hospital and hadn’t long been out of hospital because he had a bleed on his bowel.

“He doesn’t remember much but Sprocket jumped onto his lap and Ben, his owner, was over the moon. because he had got a result and that was the dog’s first live find.”

Mr Whyard had been living in Tovil before the police search but has since moved to a care home in Chatham, which he managed to leave the premises.

The home said it was not made aware of any special instructions regarding Mr Whyard’s care.