A mother has made a heart- felt appeal for the safe return of her dog that ran off after being scared by a firework.

Tracy Lewis, 33, of West View, Bamber Bridge, returned from a two-week holiday in Benidorm with husband, Mark, 35, and sons Matthew, 12, and Kyle, 10, to discover her little white dog, Zak, had gone missing.

She has trailed across Bamber Bridge putting up posters, calling in shops, and has even put up a £200 reward for her beloved pet, but all to no avail.

Now Tracy has called on Citizen readers for help.

Zak went missing on Friday, November 4, the day before the family were due back from their winter break.

Tracy's parents, Michael and Barbara Bamford, had been looking after the three-year-old Bichon cross with a Maltese.

Mr Bamford took Zak for a walk on Walton Summit, but as he was opening the boot a firework went off and the dog bolted.

"He was my baby, I took him everywhere with me, he was my shadow," said Tracy, who works as a professional dog groomer.

"The boys are absolutely distraught, and so am I, I can't even start thinking about Christmas.I asked them to write a Christmas list yesterday and all they wrote was Zak, they have been praying to St Anthony each night."

She said her other dog Simba, a seven-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, and the family's two ginuea pigs were also missing Zak.

"He brought up the ginuea pigs, they slept under his belly at night," she added.

Tracy said a man had phoned her to say he had seen a male motorist stop on the Bamber Bridge by-pass at about 2.30pm on November 5 and pick up a white dog.

She appealed to this person to get in touch if he had her dog.

Tracy said Zak is about the size of a Yorkshire Terrier and has been micro-chipped. She said because he has been castrated he has no monetary value for breeding.

Anyone with information should call Tracy on 01772 498174 or 07940 755393.