Britain's Got Talent winner Pudsey the dog has died

Pudsey, a cross between a bichon friese, Chinese crested and border collie, was put down on Thursday after a brief battle with leukemia. He was 11, or 77 in dog years.

His owner, Ashleigh, who won the talent competition with the canine thanks to their Mission Impossible dance routine, described him as a "beautiful boy", who changed her life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGt_6foIZDU

"I had to make the hardest decision of my life to let my beautiful boy go to sleep at the age of 11," she said. "From the minute he was born he brought nothing but joy to me, and as a winner of BGT millions of others who adored him too.

"No words can express just how much I will miss him. He changed my life and I have so many wonderful memories of our time together. He will always be in my heart."

Tributes to the beloved pet have poured in across social media from colleagues and fans alike.

https://twitter.com/davidwalliams/status/888452312439693312
https://twitter.com/georgesampson/status/888436762363789312
https://twitter.com/karenmorrison1/status/888423903172984833
https://twitter.com/Nicola_Hume/status/888429301850406913
https://twitter.com/ITV/status/888447603842666496

Pudsey leaves behind an illustrious career in showbiz. After rising to prominence with his BGT win, he released a book entitled Pudsey: My Autobidography. In 2014, he scored the lead role in his own movie, Pudsey The Dog: The Movie.

Though he never quite broke America, he made his US TV debut on America's Got Talent, and performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.