A BELOVED dog that went missing during a walk in Poole earlier this week online has been reunited with his owner.

Three-year-old black and white Pug Shih Tzu cross Alfie was with a dog walker between Wheelers Lane at Bearwood and Canford Recycling Centre on Tuesday at around 2pm when he disappeared.

Jan Hoyland, whose 17-year-old son owned Alfie, reported the pet missing to police after she feared he had been stolen.

Pictures of Alfie were shared hundreds of times on social media and posters of him were put up in the area but some had been ripped down.

Jan had just returned home from looking for Alfie on Thursday evening while her husband continued searching when she was called by a member of the public.

Jan said: “In the evening, somebody rang me and said “are you still looking for your dog?” and they said “I think we’ve seen him” and they sent me a couple of videos.”

Alfie was then collected by Jan at the heath who said he was found dry, clean and wasn’t hungry.

Jan said: “It just looked like somebody thought he was a little too hot but he’s home and he’s as happy as Larry. He certainly doesn’t look like a dog that’s been out in bracken or in gorse for the past couple of days.”

She added: “We’re ecstatic. We feel like we’re been living a nightmare and we’ve just woken up. We’re over the moon.”