Brooks has been using social media to try to recover her pooch, April, who went missing on Sunday, offering a $4000 cash reward for the return of the tiny 18-month old dog.

It's a fair chunk of savings being offered, but the 24-year-old just wants the safe return of her pup.

''She herself is worth $2000 because she's pure bred, but, you know, money doesn't matter to me, I just - she's my baby,'' Ms Brooks said.

''I just want her back so much … I'd do anything to get her back.''

April was left at home on Sunday and was nowhere to be found when Ms Brooks returned home in the afternoon.

''She only weighs 1.8 kilos [but] she doesn't usually go out the dog door. I've got two Yorkshire terriers - one's a lot bigger. She's really small, and she's never gone out there before, so it's actually really quite strange that she's got out somehow.

Ms Brooks said the dog was not microchipped as she's ''too small''. She has been putting up ads around town, has registered April as lost with the government's Domestic Animal Services and has been putting the word out on social media.

So far there have been no solid leads as to April's whereabouts.

The registrar of DAS, Peter Dinan, said it was mandated that dogs be microchipped, but often were not, despite the process of injecting a chip the size of a grain of rice costing just $31.

''By the time you fill in the forms and insert it, it's probably five minutes,'' he said. ''A lot of people mix up registration and microchipping, they think one overrides the other or is the same as the other.

''Microchipping is the best way, because as long as [owners] keep their details up to date, a scan will show the name and address of the owner and contact number.''

With social media often used when looking for a lost pet, Mr Dinan said any efforts to find an animal were worthwhile, but should be used in addition to their central database.

''There's a website we run when we impound a dog. There's also another website where people who lose dogs or find dogs can post to,'' he said.

''I'd encourage people in particular to check the impounded site on the TAMS website, which has details of the dog's breed and also has a photo of it so you can quickly identify it, particularly if it's not registered or microchipped.''

DAS has no guidelines on offering large rewards for the return of a pet.