A PUPPY who is thought to have been stolen from the back garden of a home in Westhoughton has been reunited with its owners.

Bichon Frise puppy Archie was reported stolen on April 19 after owners found their secure back garden gate had been opened.

The owners also reviewed their CCTV and said they heard Archie yelp six minutes before they believe he was stolen.

The three-month-old dog was missing for two weeks but was found when owner Lisa Stones turned detective and spotted someone she recognised on the CCTV footage.

She then went to the suspect's house in Middleton last Sunday, May 3, and demanded the dog's return.

Mrs Stones, from Holden Lea in Wingates, bought the designer dog as a present for her 18-year-old daughter Shannon Simpson after she suffered a close bereavement, and she was said to be "absolutely over the moon" that he has been found.

Mrs Stones, aged 42, said: "I am absolutely delighted and Shannon is elated.

"It was so important that I found him especially with all that Shannon has been through this year.

"When I found out where he was I drove up there and called the police, but I waited for an hour-and-a-half outside the house and they never turned up.

"So I just had to go and knock on the door myself and get him back.

"I just said 'you have my dog and I want him back'.

"He was on their kitchen counter in a tiny cage — it was so sad seeing him like that.

"Archie isn't just a dog to Shannon he is a lifeline.

"She was a bit upset that she has missed two weeks of watching him grow up because he is a bit bigger now but she is just so happy to have him back.

"He was very dehydrated and I think he was suffering with separation anxiety, which Bichon Frises are known to do, but as soon as he saw Shannon and got a drink of water down him he was like a new dog.

"We are absolutely over the moon."

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman confirmed that CCTV footage had been reviewed but no arrests had been made.