$1000 reward for missing dog

Wendy and Alex Keir have desperately been searching for the third member of their family ever since he went missing almost a week ago.

The couple's 4-year-old border collie, Winston, went missing last Saturday and they are so desperate to find him they are offering a $1000 reward to anyone who finds him.

"Our lives have stopped. Our lives are nothing without him, he's our everything," Mrs Keir said. "Me and my husband, Alex, we're nothing without him. We're a threesome. There's two things Alex tells me every day - that he loves me and Winston is an awesome dog."

Winston went missing after the couple took him to the beach at Mount Maunganui last Saturday.

They were heading back to their Te Poi home when he jumped out the open window at the back of their canopied ute.

The couple tracked down CCTV footage from along the journey which shows he was in the ute at the Elizabeth St roundabout but was gone by the time they got to the toll gate on Route K.

Mrs Keir said both she and her husband were self-employed so had put work on hold and spent every day searching for their dog.

Mr Keir, his friend and his mother spent 8 hours searching the bush along the side of Route K in the hope he would still be in the area they lost him.

They have plastered hundreds of posters around the city, taken to the radio and set up Facebook page Bring Winston Home in an effort to find him.

They have had two sightings so far, one in Yatton Park and then last night, one in Oropi.

He has a distinctive black spot on his nose, a white tipped tail and is extremely friendly, Mrs Keir said. He was not wearing a collar but is micro-chipped.