A “little hero dog” who sparked a social media frenzy after she was nearly kicked to death by a burglar has been reunited with her owner.

Collie-cross Audrey suffered serious injuries and went missing after chasing off a burglar trying to break into owner Sarah Thom’s Highgate home at 2am on Monday.

Thousands of people, including comedian Alan Carr, took to Twitter to help find her by sharing her owner’s desperate pleas for help.

Thanks to their support, just a few hours later the tan-coloured mongrel was found alive in Archway but with a dislocated left hip, fractured ribs, cuts and bruises.

Miss Thoms, 32, of Highgate Avenue, said: “I was just so upset, I was in shock. It was a grave situation. I love her to bits. She is just the best friend and I was crying and a bit emotional when we found her.”

The Whitehall civil servant added: “It could have been so much worse. The fact is she will get better and she stopped some crazy psycho breaking into my house.

“She’s my little hero dog.”

Miss Thoms was first alerted to the burglar when she was woken at 2am by a noise at her front door.

At first she thought it was a fox, and let Audrey go outside to bark. She then heard someone pulling at her door handle before Audrey gave a loud yelp.

When the burglar ran off, Audrey followed the suspect into the night.

Miss Thoms said: “Audrey was nearly kicked to death. I feel so guilty because she was trying to protect me.”

She added: “If it wasn’t for her, then god knows what would have happened because the burglar, whoever he was, was inches away from my bedroom.

Police soon arrived with sniffer dogs to help her track down the missing pet, rescued by Miss Thoms after being abandoned on Christmas Day.

She also started a social media campaign on Twitter and Facebook, with her posts attracting nearly 2,000 retweets and shares.

Happily by mid-morning, Audrey was found and taken to Hornsey Vets in Hornsey Road, where Miss Thoms was reunited with her pet.

Veterinary surgeon Laura Harrel said: “I’ve never before had a hero dog come in who has chased off a burglar.

“She was very, very lucky.”

The pooch, who is recovering at home, has to take three different types of painkillers and will need to have an operation to mend her dislocated hip.

Miss Thoms wants to publicly thank everyone who helped her with the search.

“I couldn’t keep up with the amount of people saying that she was lost,” she said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”