Hundreds of dogs and their owners turn out to support dying Marley on one of his final walks

Ashleigh Murray was devastated when she was told her seven-year-old cocker spaniel Marley was terminally ill.

Diagnosed with Haemangiosarcoma - an aggressive cancer - Marley has been given four months to live, even after vets attempted to stop the cancer by removing his spleen and a 1.5kg tumour.

Determined to make her beloved canine's final weeks happy ones, Ms Murray organised a walk for Marley in one of his favourite places, inviting fellow dog lovers and their four-legged friends on Facebook to join them for what could be one of his last walks.

The response to Marley's Big Walk was more than Ms Murray - or Marley - could ever have imagined.

Over 300 people and their pooches - some having driven many miles to be there - turned up at Crawfordsburn Country Park, County Down on Saturday to walk with the pair.

Ms Murray said the response was "amazing".

"It was so overwhelming," she told ITV News.

"It was really, really lovely.

Despite the hundreds of dogs, there was no doubting who was the star of the show was.

"Marley loved it," said Ms Murray.

"First of all I had him on the lead and he just barked and barked.

"So I let him off and he just took off and he was just around every dog, every person.

"And at one stage we were in the forest and I couldn't find him and he was away, just seeing people.

"You could hear people going 'hi Marley, hi Marley' it was really, really nice.

"There was always somebody looking after him, it was really, really sweet.

"He was playing with the other dogs' balls and he was barking at the owners and the owners actually look them off their poor dogs and gave them to him.

"He's such a diva.

"He loved it."