Image copyright Marie-Michelle Lauzon/CBC Image caption Cooper is reunited with his owner, Terri Pittman (centre)

A missing labradoodle named Cooper, which sparked a major hunt after boarding the wrong flight in Canada, has been reunited with his owner.

The puppy was due to fly from Nova Scotia on Wednesday to stay with family in Newfoundland, but landed in Ontario.

On arrival, flight staff took Cooper outside to relieve himself, but he slipped off his lead and escaped.

His owner, who was due to travel to Jamaica for a wedding, said on Friday she was "grateful" for his return.

The golden labradoodle was supposed to board a WestJet flight from Halifax on Wednesday bound for Deer Lake, but was placed on a plane destined for Hamilton, a city more than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away.

"I got a call saying they had put my dog on the wrong flight to a totally different province," Cooper's owner, Terri Pittman, said.

On hearing the news, Ms Pittman took a flight to Hamilton, where she was joined by "thousands" of members of the public in the search for Cooper.

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He was found wet and hungry on Friday by a group of local residents, CBC news reports.

"Knowing that people were spotting him running in the same area gave me more hope," Ms Pittman told CBC.

"The community of Mount Hope and Hamilton have been amazing," she said earlier, adding that "random people messaged me saying they want to help".

When Ms Pittman was informed by airline staff that Cooper had taken the wrong flight and had escaped, she said it was "one of the worst days of my life".

In a post on Facebook, Ms Pittman said: "This dog is everything to me, and the thought of losing him for good was sickening. To the city of Hamilton, I am overwhelmed."

Coincidentally Deer Lake, where Cooper was supposed to touchdown, is a town situated in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.