There are pricey designer pooches – poms, pugs and cockapoos – and then there are the dogs that are worth MEGA five-figure sums. 

Step forward the Phu Quoc ridgeback; with just 800 specimens globally, it is largely regarded as the world's rarest breed.

And while it's very unusual to spot the hounds in this part of the world, a litter-of-four has now arrived in Brighton. 

Indeed, owner Catherine Lane is the only person in Europe to successfully breed the animal: after falling in love with the breed while on holidays, she travelled back to Vietnam to get her hands on proud daddy, Sirius, and thrilled mum, Moon.

Ms Lane has now received lucrative offers from around the world, with dozens of dog-lovers eager to give the pups a new home.

Now eight weeks' old, they will be ready to leave their parents in another two weeks. 

Catherine explained to Mail Online: "One puppy is already being exported to a Dallas-based Danish couple, while the other two have been snapped up by owners in Milan and the Seychelles."

Phu Quoc share their name with the Vietnamese island from which they originate and are known to be attractive, highly intelligent and easy to train.

They also sport a long strip of Mohawk hair along their spine, much like the Rhodesian ridgeback – which hails from Zimbabwe – does. 

Catherine furthermore gushed: "The dogs themselves are stunning.

"Every walk along the beach means I get stopped on average by four or five people wanting to know what they are and admiring them."