A pet owner claims her five-year-old American staffy was wrongly euthanised by an animal pound despite trying to get him back repeatedly in the days before he died.

Buddy was held at Canberra's Domestic Animal Services from December 30 to January 7, an ACT Territory and Municipal Services spokesman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia.

The dog was euthanised on January 7 in accordance with the state's Domestic Animals Act which says unclaimed animals will be put to sleep after seven days in care with DAS.

But while she was eventually offered an apology, Demi McKay is struggling to accept the fact that the beloved pet she adopted after the death of her son was wrongly put down.

Demi McKay (left), from Sydney, said her dog Buddy (right) was wrongly euthanised by Canberra's Domestic Animal Services

But owner Demi McKay said this should have never happened because she had called the pound several times in the lead up to Buddy's death but DAS staff members claimed they had no record of him.

The 22-year-old said her dog went missing while she was packing up her life in Canberra and moving to Sydney.

Buddy was staying with her ex-partner at the time the staffy went missing.

Ms McKay was told by Canberra Lost Pet Database that her dog was at the pound.

When she found out she rang DAS to tell them they had Buddy and she would like to get him back.

But Ms McKay said she was left unimpressed by the lacklustre response she received from a staff member working at the pound.

She rang them on January 6 and was told they did not have a dog fitting Buddy's description at their facility.

Ms McKay described Buddy as her best friend and had been with her through dark times

But Ms McKay said she had been sitting there looking at him on their website while she was speaking to them.

'I had the link in front of me that said he was in Yard 31,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'[The DAS staff member] ushered me off the phone as quick as possible. He didn't want to help me at all.'

After that Ms McKay rang back a few more times and asked to speak to the manager, but was told they were in a meeting.

In her third conversation, she was told she was unable to get information about the dog because she was not the owner.

This was not the first time Buddy had ended up in a pound.

Recently Ms McKay had transferred the registration of Buddy into her ex-partner's name as DAS would not release the dog to anyone but the owner.

During this previous time, she had been away and could not get to Buddy, so she agreed for her ex-partner to pick up the dog.

'He gets out whenever I'm away because he goes looking for me,' Ms McKay said.

Ms McKay said if DAS had looked at Buddy's history they would have seen she was a previous owner.

In this latest incident, when she could not get answers, Ms McKay rang the ACT Territory and Municipal Services minister's office who said they would look into it.

A couple of days later, Ms McKay got the call she had been dreading.

'I ended up getting a call from the manager apologising about what happened,' she said.

'At the end of the day, apologies can be what they are.

'But he wasn't just a dog. He wouldn't leave my side when I was going through a dark time.

'I can't believe that they could have just looked up my name and told me my dog was there [and prevented this].'

Ms McKay said she had called a several times about getting her dog back, but an ACT Territory and Municipal Services spokesman said they had no record of the calls

An ACT Territory and Municipal Services spokesman said the government recognised the stress associated in losing a pet.

He said under the Domestic Animals Act 2000 the DAS would hold a dog for up to seven days and Buddy was held for longer than that.

He added there was no record of contact being made with DAS in relation to the dog between December 30 and January 7, but more investigations were continuing.

'DAS' first goal is to reunite or re-home all dogs that come into the shelter, and they have one of the highest re-homing rates in the country,' he said.

'The breed of dog has no influence on whether or not the dog is euthanised.'

Ms McKay said she wanted to tell her story because she did not want this to happen to anyone else.

'There should be some kind of consequence. This is always going to affect me. I can't look at his [Buddy's] photos anymore. it can bring me to tears,' she said.

'I rescued Buddy after I lost my second son back in May 2012. Basically my ex-partner and I looked at each other and said how do we fill this hole in heart and we decided to rescue this dog.