Terrier survives 164ft cliff fall

[bigdoglover]

BBC News

A dog owner whose pet survived a 164ft (50m) fall down a cliff has praised the coastguard for rescuing her.
Martina Cooper was walking her Staffordshire bull terrier cross, Jazz, at Durdle Door, in Dorset, on Friday when it tumbled down onto the beach.

"It is really lucky she was not badly hurt, she must have had her guardian angel with her," she said.

Ms Cooper, of East Stoke, described the coastguard volunteers who climbed down and rescued Jazz as "amazing".

She said: "My friend and I had decided to get fit and we decided to go for a walk up the hill.

"We had both dogs on the lead at first when we were near the cliff path but later when we were well away from the cliff I let them off and Jazz was up and down the hill like a little puppy.

"On the way down she disappeared and I thought she had found the trace of a rabbit and I looked round to the beach and saw she was standing there but you could see she was hurt."

A coastguard spokesman said the cliff path was up to 50m high at the point where the dog fell.

He said: "Our concern, as a coastguard, when dogs fall off cliffs is that the owners might go down the cliff to rescue the dog and put their own life in danger."

Ms Cooper said: "The professionalism of the coastguard was amazing - they wouldn't have treated a human any differently to how they treated Jazz."

She said she was going to be more careful in the future.

"Jazz will remain on the lead from now on because she's not the brightest tool in the box," Ms Cooper said.