The tiny Jack Russell terrier had an ear cut off and its head almost severed – and was left dumped in the family's garden.

Animal welfare officers have branded the attack as "the worst act of animal cruelty" they have ever seen.

Police have now launched an investigation into the death of the pet who lived on the Begg Farmhouse just off the Kirkcaldy-Cluny road.

The dog, named Mindy, was bought as tiny puppy by Gordon Smith as a gift for his wife Janet.

Mindy was discovered on Saturday – two days after she went missing.

The seven-year old pet had been playing in the garden with two of the family's other four dogs when it is believed she wandered out through a gap in the gate.

Mr Smith explained: "She quite often hangs around there waiting for us coming in, but she never wanders away, so when she hadn't come in at tea time on Thursday we thought it was odd.

"We all went out and searched the garden and called on her."

With 13 members of the family living in the house, the whole area was searched, but there was no trace of Mindy.

He added: "I searched haybales at the bottom of the road in case she had got stuck there and we asked our neighbours in the cottages, at the kennels and people out walking their dogs – but nobody had seen her.

"A few people mentioned a strange man walking a collie dog near the house on Thursday, and I have told the police."

The family reported her disappearance to both the police and the dog warden, and on Saturday Gordon was told her body had been found.

He was working in working in London when he received a phone call from his brother Thomas telling him of the grim discovery of the dog's body in the garden with its head only attached by a flap of skin.

"Her body had been thrown over the garden wall just feet from where my two-year-old grand-daughter was playing,'' he said.

''It has really sickened all of us. There has to be a crazy person out there who would do something like this to a poor defenceless animal. I just hope the police catch whoever was responsible before I do."

Kirkcaldy dog warden Bill Donaldson described the case as the "worst act of cruelty I have ever seen."

"Whoever did this should be jailed for a long time," he said.