Lyla Arthurs said her beloved support dog vanished within 25 minutes of being let outside into her yard on their property near Leeston about 10.30am on May 21.
"All we can do is just keep hoping, but it does get harder with every day going past,” Arthurs said.
Arthurs said she believed the small dog, from a breed which was rare in New Zealand, had squeezed under the gate to get out of the semi-enclosed yard at her lifestyle block home on Kings Rd.
Freyja had done this before, to go and sit at the end of the driveway.
Buut Arthurs said immediate efforts to find her were unsuccessful.
She believes Freyja may have been picked up by someone and then later dumped, perhaps when they saw the 'missing' posters and social media notices offering a $2000 reward.
She said there were two sightings of a dog, believed to look exactly like Freyja, on Tobins Rd, about 10km away, last Thursday.
The sightings were by different members of the same family who lived in the area.
Arthurs wants people to keep an eye out for Freyja, but not go actively looking and calling for her.
She said she recently talked to an experienced animal tracker who suggested calling could make the dog more scared.
Instead Arthurs is trying to find her by leaving items of clothing in the area the dog had been sighted, and then watching these at a distance at sunrise and sunset to see if Freyja came to the items.
Freyja has provided great support as Arthurs suffers pain every day due to her condition of myalgic encephalomyelitis and fibromyalgia.
"On the bad days, she would brighten it up.
"When I wasn’t feeling great, she would know that I needed cheering up."
- Anyone with information is asked to phone or text Arthurs, 022 054 3556.
