Isabelle, a nine-month-old Afghan Hound puppy, has won several awards after being shown in dog shows by owner Joy Mahoney from Abersychan near Pontypool.

But there are fears that she may have lost her show-winning ways after being scared by a hot air balloon which hovered close to her home.

Her owner is even considering getting Isabelle some dog therapy to recover.

"She is a totally different dog to the one she was before the hot air balloon," explained Ms Mahoney, who is a dog groomer.

"She keeps looking at the sky and is very nervous.

"I'm very worried about her, especially because she has the potential to be a great show dog.

"I'm trying to help her as best I can, but if I can't then I am going to have to get a professional dog counsellor to help her."

She said the incident happened when she was watching the television and suddenly heard "a huge racket" from the garden.

"I rushed out and all of the dogs were in a panic - when I looked up I could see a hot air balloon floating above the house quite low down," she said.

"It was letting the gas out so was making quite a bit of noise and had obviously scared the dogs.

"I opened the door to the house and all of the dogs came rushing in apart from Isabelle who was absolutely terrified."

Isabelle, the youngest of Ms Mahoney's 11 dogs, bolted across the garden and leapt over a 6ft wall before running off.

"It was terrible. We just didn't know what to do," said Ms Mahoney.

A search was launched for the puppy with neighbours and local children all involved.

"There were sightings of her four miles away," explained her owner.

After more than three hours, Isabelle finally made her way home and a neighbour managed to coax her into the garden.

But the hot air balloon has left its mark on Isabelle who it seems has a case of canine globophobia - a fear of balloons.

"It must have looked like an alien to her," said Ms Mahoney.

"And the people in the balloon obviously didn't realise what a panic they had caused because they were waving at us.

A key test for Isabelle will come in just a few days time.

"She has got a show on the weekend but I really don't know how she is going to react because there will be so many people there and the ground is near Gatwick so there will be a lot of aeroplanes flying.

"I'm just praying she'll be OK," added Ms Mahoney.

Dog behaviour expert Jinny Hatton said the signs were promising.

"With patient training she will be able to bring her dog back on line, but it has to be the right kind of training because the wrong kind could actually make it worse," she explained.