I put an ad in the Evening Herald because I'm trying to find my beloved dog Kate, a three-year-old cockerspaniel. I've had her since she was a puppy.

She went missing on 25 March. It was a normal day. We left the house at 7.45 in the morning to go for a walk on Sandymount Beach. Kate started chasing birds, as usual, while I walked along the beach watching her. After a little while, I started to think that we should start turning back because we'd walked out quite far but she was having so much fun and the tide was way out in front of me, so I wasn't in too much of a rush.

Shortly afterwards, I decided it was time to turn around and walk back but realised that the water was at each side of us and at each end, so we was in the middle, surrounded by water. I panicked, called Kate and started to run back in to shore. I had to run through water as well, all the time calling her.

Back on dry land, I turned around and expected to find her behind me but I saw that she was still out there surrounded by water. I started shouting and begging her to come to me but she still wouldn't come and the tide came in around her. I lost sight of her then.

I just don't know what happened to her. I assume she swam in but I don't know where she swam to. I spent hours that day looking everywhere but couldn't find her. Then I went to the vet, the Garda station and rang all the places like DSPCA and local pounds, to no avail.

I've had my neighbours searching for her as well and I still go out everyday looking for her. I've put up posters all around Sandy­mount, Irishtown, Ringsend and Blackrock and I'm offering a small reward for her safe return. But I've had no response at all.

She's micro-chipped and wasn't wearing a collar but had a black harness on at the time, so it would have been really obvious that she had been separated from a person out walking her.

Kate doesn't really like water. In general she would go around it. But she is able to swim. She used to jump into the pond in Herbert Park to chase ducks when I wouldn't want her to go in the water.

I spoke to the Dublin Corperation workmen who look after the beach and they said that they hadn't found her. They also said that the body should have washed up by now if she died. They seem to think that somebody has taken her in and they're looking out for her as well. I just miss her so much. I am so heartbroken. She used to be by my side all the time and was so possessive of me. If another dog came up to me, she would try to get in between me and the other dog. Even the two cats I have, she has no time for them at all and doesn't want them near me. Kate just minds me and that's it. She's also so gentle and very affectionate. I miss her terribly.

The groomer used to say that she has a lovely temperament. Kate was my first dog and is so pretty. She has a tan colour on her ears and face, a tan stripe across her stomach, all her paws are tan and the rest of her body is black.

She's a funny little dog as well and a real foodie. One Christmas when I was home in Longford, we all went to bed and left her in the kitchen. There was a bowl of sweets on the table and the following morning we discovered all the sweet papers on the floor. She had unwrapped the sweets and helped herself.

Please, if anyone has found Kate, would they please give her back to me because I'm so lost and lonely without her.