Stallone's dog found dead

Los Angeles, April 26 (IANS) Hollywood actor-director Sylvester Stallone's dog Phoebe has reportedly been found dead after a coyote attack.

The 66-year-old and his family had put posters offering a $10,000 reward near their Bel Air estate after their beloved pooch went missing earlier this month. But the search ended in sadness when Phoebe was found dead, reports contactmusic.com.

"Phoebe's death has been very difficult for the family," said a source.

The actor recently revealed he was forced to sell his beloved bullmastiff Butkus for just $50 when he was a struggling actor, but bought him back for $3,000 after he sold the script of "Rocky".

He said: "I sold my bullmastiff Butkus to a little person. You can't use the word dwarf anymore? Let's just say a little person. I tied my dog up at the store with a sign that said a hundred bucks. I got $50 from this guy called little Jimmy."

"When I sold the 'Rocky' script, I went to see Little Jimmy and begged for the dog back. He wanted to fight me and said he was gonna kill me, he was a crazy little person. I couldn't fight him - they'd arrest me - so I offered to pay double. Anyway, $3,000 and several threats later. I ended up putting Little Jimmy in the movie 'Rocky'," he added.