A 'CLEVER and loyal' dog, made famous when she went missing for 10-days on the snowy Preseli hills last year, has passed away.

Red the Welsh collie was reunited with her owner Elspeth Thompson of Woodstock in January after going missing in the Preselis for 10 days.

Elspeth announced 14-year-old Red had died to Dog Friendly Pembrokeshire, a Facebook group which helped with rescue efforts which saw hundreds of people searching the snow-capped hills last winter.

“I wanted to let you all know that Red passed away yesterday, at home wrapped in a fluffy blanket in front of the fire surrounded by her family.

“I know she felt very loved and safe, the vets were so gentle and kind and made her last moments very peaceful,” Elspeth said to the group.

“We will always be so very ,very grateful and thankful to all of you ,for all you did in bringing Red back to us in January, we were totally overwhelmed by your kindness.

“We are so lucky to have had such a faithful loyal and beautiful dog, we will miss her forever,” she added.

Members of the group replied to share their condolences with Elspeth and her family – husband Richard and children Finn and Caitlin.

Elspeth described Red as always clever, obedient and loyal, and said she was a huge part of the family's life.

"Red chose us to be her family, she came bounding up to us when we went to went to look at some puppies on a farm, she was from a previous litter and no one wanted her as she wasn’t a pretty dog!" Elspeth told the Western Telegraph.

"We wanted her straight away and she came home with us that day.

"We are a very active family and Red spent her life going on marathon training runs, swimming alongside us in lakes and the sea, climbing mountains ,camping, running alongside us on bike rides and generally loving her life."

She added: "We were so thankful to get her home earlier this year and although the experience left her very frail and weak, we had almost another year with her.

"We will miss her so much but have so many lovely memories of her and are so glad she chose us to be her family."

Red went missing on the Preseli hills on December 28 last year, and an appeal to help find her drew hundreds of people together in a rescue effort.

Volunteers made posters and put them up in towns and villages around the hills, and asked for help from local media and social media.

On January 6 this year, she was discovered by holiday maker Jon Griffiths and his partner Sarah, wearing her high-vis jacket near Foel Feddau.

She was taken in by the hill walkers and made a swift recovery at home with her family under the watchful eye of vets.