A MAN has faced court today over an elaborate false story about the disappearance of a cute 14-week-old puppy Egg.

Sydney was devastated by reports that Egg the Pug was stolen in Homebush in February.

But today his 29-year-old owner faced a magistrate at Burwood Local Court and confessed he made up the whole story, revealing Egg is dead, not missing.

Qiushi Xia revealed it is actually not the first time he and his girlfriend owned a pug that died as their previous pet, called Pepper, fatally choked on a toy.

**BREAKING** Development in the fake robbery and abduction of 'Egg' the pug at Sydney Olympic Park. @ebatten7 https://t.co/irdjuSyLp6 — 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) April 6, 2017

“I don’t want my girlfriend to find out my dog is dead because it’s the second dog that we lost, OK? I did all this to cover the fact that our dog died,” he told Seven News outside court.

He told the court he was looking after Egg on his own while his girlfriend was on holiday in China, and panicked when he realised the puppy had suffered the same fate as Pepper after choking on a dog treat.

He spun an elaborate yarn at the time, telling police he’d been robbed at knifepoint by three armed offenders, who stole the animal along with his wallet and backpack.

The reality was far more tragic than theft: the animal’s tiny body was dumped into the Parramatta River.

Officers conducted a thorough search of the surrounding area, and put out a call for the suspects’ whereabouts based on his made-up description.

The owner was charged with making a false representation resulting in a police investigation.

He apologised profusely for wasting police resources, but the magistrate ordered him to come back next week and said she will consider sending him to jail.