An award-winning dog has been stolen from outside its home.

Border terrier Cosima is believed to have been bundled away in the back of a car while owner Robert Bolton was walking two of his other dogs.

He returned home to find his side gate ajar yesterday morning.

Mr Bolton, 65, said: "As I walked through the door, she didn't come to greet me, which I immediately thought was strange because she always does.

"I went up to her room to see if she had been locked in."

Four-year-old Cosima, who was micro-chipped, entered Crufts in 1998 and 1999, and had also come first in other championship shows.

Mr Bolton, of Maresfield Park, Maresfield, added: "My eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, absolutely doted on Cosima. I had to tell her she was missing when she came home from school yesterday. She was devastated."

Six days earlier, Mr Bolton was walking Cosima when he was approached by a man in a Ford car who took a keen interest in her.

He offered to give him some Pedigree Chum mix and arranged to drop it off at his home.

Mr Bolton said: "I was explaining where I lived and he said, 'Oh, is it the one with the silver car in the drive', which I thought was odd.

"He was very interested and couldn't take his eyes off her. But he spun a very plausible story an I ended up telling him where I lived, which, in hindsight, I shouldn't have done."

Mr Bolton said Cosima's pups could fetch up to £500.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police on 0845 6070 999.