A family have been reunited with their pet dog - six days after she mysteriously disappeared.

Owner Liz Burgess printed thousands of leaflets and posters after four-year-old Tara vanished from outside the Tesco store at Sizer Way, Dibden.

Mrs Burgess feared the dog had been stolen and began to lose hope of ever seeing her again.

Her ordeal ended when she received a telephone call from a woman who said Tara had been found on the Marchwood Bypass.

Mrs Burgess, of Dibden Purlieu, said: "We were ecstatic to get her back.

"My two children aged two and five went wild with delight and my mother was dancing in the street."

The Burgess family spent hundreds of pounds on a huge publicity campaign after Tara vanished a week ago yesterday.

Posters showing the dog's photograph were delivered to houses, placed in shop windows and distributed with newspapers.

Mrs Burgess paid tribute to all the friends, neighbours and complete strangers who helped her search for Tara.

"The whole community was absolutely fantastic," she said.

"Two lads on the Netley View estate found a small black dog. It wasn't Tara, which left me feeling really broken, but they promised to keep looking."

Tara's whereabouts during the week she was missing will always remain a mystery.

Mrs Burgess said: "She was bone dry, despite the recent wet weather, and had obviously been bathed and fed.

"I can only assume someone saw this really cute dog sitting outside Tesco and decided to take her home."

Tara's disappearance prompted the district council to issue a warning about the number of dogs that have been stolen in the New Forest area.

Police advised animal owners in the district to keep a close eye on their pets.