A DEVASTATED dog owner is offering a £2,500 reward for the safe return of her four-month old King Charles spaniel Beatrice.

The pup disappeared last Thursday and owner Ann Blyth-Cook is desperate to be reunited with her prize pet.

Mrs Blyth-Cook, 55, a solicitor, said she seeks solace in her spaniels after losing her husband Brian, 63, to cancer three years ago.

She said: “She could have wriggled out, through or under a fence, because she is smaller than the other dogs and she is so friendly.

“She would have approached anybody and they could easily have picked her up and taken her away.

“After losing my husband I pour so much of my love into the dogs. Sometimes they are my children.”

The puppy was with three other King Charles bitches in her back garden in Thorpe Hall Avenue, Thorpe Bay, when it disappeared late in the day.

Mrs Blyth-Cook said although the dog was valuable she was not worth as much as the reward. She added: “Beatrice is worth so much to me. I’ve had her since she was eight-weeks old.

“My other dogs are really missing her. One of my dogs, Isadora, had puppies and they were all given away. I got Beatrice at the same time. Isadora treated Beatrice as if she was her own pup and even fed her.

“She’s now walking around the house whining.”

Anybody with information about Beatrice should call her on 07788 844347.