Scamp, an eight-month-old terrier-Shih Tzu puppy, had been hit by a car and he was apparently so badly injured that he had died on the road.

Scamp’s owner Paul McKinlay wrapped him a blanket and put him under a wheelbarrow to keep other animals away until they could arrange a proper burial in the back garden.

Paul McKinlay and his wife Rita then sat down with her grandchildren and told them their beloved pet had gone to heaven.

The next day Scamp woke up.

Paul McKinlay went out to bury Scamp’s body only to find him sitting where he had been left, staring up and him and wagging his tail.

They rushed Scamp to the vet and after spending $3,000 on checks to make sure he was OK, they have now brought him home.

Scamp, an eight-month-old terrier-Shih Tzu puppy, had been hit by a car and he was apparently so badly injured that he had died on the road

Rita McKinlay said she has told her grandchildren that Scamp is in fact still alive and that his Lazarus-like return from the grave is a special Christmas present for them all.

The woman claimed that it was the freezing conditions outside their home in Yelm, Washington, which could have caused his body to slow down and keep him alive.

Paul McKinlay said that Scamp escaped when he “wasn’t paying attention”.

He said: “The next thing I heard a car. I figured he was gone, I figured he had passed away.”

Paul McKinlay went outside, wrapped him in a blanket and brought him indoors.

Rita McKinlay said: “It was real sad to watch them (her grandchildren) crying over their dog. We were trying not to cry.”

When her husband rushed in the next day to tell her Scamp was alive, Rita McKinlay shouted: “Oh my gosh.”

She added that the freezing temperatures may have been the reason why the dog survived.

Rita McKinlay said: “It could have slowed down his body functions and made his brain work slow, that’s what the vet said, that’s what saved his life.

“Christmas is about kids, about miracles, as long as family is together and Scamp is part of our family.”