A UNIQUE portrait exhibition was opened by one of its stars, a stray dog from Afghanistan.

Peg, a mongrel, was adopted by Private Conrad Lewis while he served with the Parachute Regiment.

But when the 22-year-old soldier was killed by a sniper in February 2011 his parents Tony and Sandi Lewis arranged to have her brought back to their Warwickshire home.

After seeing the news coverage, artist Shirley Cherry, from Tysoe near Banbury, painted the dog’s portrait.

She said: “It was a nice thing to do. I do think dogs are wonderful characters and they do have their own stories to tell.”

Peg’s picture is one of many at the All Things Dog exhibition at the The Real Wood Gallery in Woodstock.

Mr Lewis, 51, was at the launch on Friday. He said: “It was another unusual experience for us but another opportunity to tell the story of how Peg came back to the UK and, more importantly, to tell the story of my son who didn’t make it back.”

The exhibition runs until the end of the month.