A kennel manager admits he had no idea a dog in his care had escaped and wrongly assured its owners their pet was safely in his pen.

Leo, a two-year-old kelpie, apparently jumped a 6ft fence and opened a gate before making his escape from Rosedale Boarding Kennels in Wingham.

He was found wandering aimlessly in the street just hours after he was dropped off.

Proprietor Brian Booth had no clue the dog was even missing when its owners rang him to inquire after their pet.

“We had put him in a standard paddock with 6ft fences. It’s extremely rare for a dog to be able to jump over those" - Rosedale owner Brian Booth

Leo’s owner, Jason Bowman, said: “We’d had a call from a lady we’d never heard of saying she had Leo and that he’d been hanging around her garden gate.

“I said there must be some mistake because we’d only just dropped him at the kennel in Wingham about two hours earlier.

“We got in touch with the kennel and they told us he was still in his paddock. It was only when they checked that they found he was gone.”

Leo had been dropped at the kennel, in Rusham Road, on Friday afternoon. He was found by a resident living about half-a-mile away.

Mr Bowman, 36, of Duck Lane, Canterbury, took in Leo from a pet rescue centre about 18 months ago.

He said to his knowledge the former stray had no history of vaulting high walls or fences.

Rosedale owner Mr Booth confirmed Leo had gone missing from the kennel.

He said: “He jumped over the fence and was able to open the gate, too.

“We had put him in a standard paddock with 6ft fences. It’s extremely rare for a dog to be able to jump over those.

“We have a special enclosure for strays who are nervous and have a history of jumping.

“At no point were we made aware that this dog was capable of doing that.

“If we had been, we would have put him in the special enclosure.” Mr Booth added that he made immediate arrangements to collect Leo from the woman who had found him.

Leo was collected by his owners on Saturday morning.

Mr Bowman said: “It’s disappointing, to be honest. How can they not know that a dog’s not where it’s supposed to be?”