Tennessee couple wakes up to find lost dog in bed

• On May 1, Julie Thornton Johnson and Jimmy Johnson woke up to find a dog they didn’t know sleeping in their bed.
• Within hours of posting on Facebook, they found Nala’s owners, Cris Hawkins and Felecia Johnson.
• Now, the families have become friends – and went on a “puppy playdate” a few days ago.

In the early morning of May 1, a couple in southeastern Tennessee woke up to a mysterious dog sleeping in their bed – snuggled between them.

What at first was a strange, furry intruderquickly became a new friend.

“[My husband] says ‘Julie, Whose dog is this?’ In a very urgent but calm voice,” Julie Thornton Johnson told USA TODAY, adding that she originally thought the pup was one of their own three dogs, who often sleeps in the bed as well.

But when Thornton Johnson turned around, she saw a 90-pound, red nose pitbull-Labrador mix that she didn’t recognize.

“It never crossed my mind that was somebody else’s, [but] I rolled over and me and my husband locked eyes – and sure enough, in between us was absolutely not our dog,” said Thornton Johnson. At first they were “taken aback… [but] it was obvious then that she was of no harm to anybody. She was just a pup having a spend-a-night party.”