A dog owner has remortgaged her home so that she can offer a £10,000 ($15,800 USD) reward to help find her stolen dog.

Dawn Maw, 42, is distraught over the disappearance of Angel, her champion German Short-haired Pointer. The dog was taken from a car park near Barnsley, South Yorkshire last month while she was out on a walk.

Dawn had taken her four dogs for a walk on December 6th and was helping one of the other dogs into her car when a driver of a white transit van grabbed Angel and threw her into the back of the van before racing off.

Dawn called police but so far officers have not been able to find the dog or any clues as to who took her.  Since then, Dawn has distributed thousands of posters and cards, hired a pet detective agency and set up a Facebook page with the help of friends in order to help find the dog.

Angel is 4-years-old and has won five champion titles at shows. She is spayed and microchipped and still has a full-length tail, which has not been docked.

She is one of only two show and working champions of her breed in the UK, which could be why she was targeted. Dawn said, "I have no idea why she was taken because she can't breed, so I expect someone knew she was a champion and thought 'I want that dog'.

Dawn has spent thousands of dollars already in her desperate search and decided to remortgage her home to be able to increase the reward from the original £3,000 (donated by "the sheer generosity" of her Facebook friends) to £10,000. It is the largest known reward ever offered for a missing pet in the UK.

She told Daily Mail, "My husband, Dominic, wasn't happy about doing it at first but he's accepting it more now because getting Angel back is the only way life is going to return to normal in our house. It means we have extended our mortgage from 15 years to 20 years."

The reward is for Angel's safe return or for information that leads directly to her. She said it will be paid in cash. "I have no issues with that, I am simply determined to find her. I just want Angel back."

She is worried that whoever took her may dock Angel's tail to make her less conspicuous. A number of pedigree dogs have been stolen recently in the UK

The German Short-haired Pointer was last seen by Dawn at 7:20 am on December 6 at Old Wagon Road/Cawthorne Basin, Barugh Green, Barnsley S75 area (North East) on Thursday December 6, 2012.

Please contact 07921 682002 or 07908 157216 with information. People can also call Doglost at 0844 800 3200.

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• German Short-haired Pointer
• stolen dog
• Barnsley
• South Yorkshire
• United Kingdom