Oscar tumbled 120ft down the Dorset cliff and escaped with a 'little limp'When Oscar the cocker spaniel scampered over the edge of a 120ft sheer cliff, Laura Gardener was distraught.
Not least because she had only been walking the dog for a friend when she let it off the leash at a coastal beauty spot.
Luckily for all concerned, the five-year-old pet escaped from his death-defying leap with just ‘a little limp’ and was yesterday back home with his owners after being checked over by a vet.
Mrs Gardener had offered to take Oscar to Old Harry Rocks, near Studland, Dorset, along with her own dog, Dougie, and her three children, because his owners, Rupert and Emma Brown, had their hands full looking after a newborn baby.
The 41-year-old said: ‘Rupert and Emma haven’t been able to exercise Oscar as much as they would have liked recently due to their baby Theo.
‘I have taken care of Oscar before so I offered to take him with me to Studland. The coastal path was quite open and I thought it would be OK to let the dogs off their leads.
'As soon as I did they both went running off about 100 metres in the distance.’
She shouted at the dogs to stop, but while Dougie obeyed the command, Oscar carried on running and ‘flew over the edge’.
Mrs Gardener, who lives in Iwerne Minster, Dorset, with husband Andrew, an energy manager, added: ‘I peered over the top and saw Oscar.
‘He looked like he didn’t know what had hit him but he was alive
Oscar fell over the edge at the Old Harry Rocks in Dorset - and walker Laura Gardener was stunned when he got upl and continued to run around‘There was then a brief moment of celebration before I thought, “How am I going to get him back up?”.’
She called coastguards after realising Oscar was stranded at the foot of the cliffs by the incoming tide.
But the dog was rescued soon after the fall on Thursday morning by a canoeist who had witnessed the incident.
She added: ‘I like to let my dog off the lead to give him a run but I’ll never do it again anywhere near a cliff.’
Mr Brown, 41, who runs a business selling dog products, said: ‘We were quite upset and worried at the time but Laura was brilliant and she did the right thing throughout.
‘These things happen, dogs will be dogs. Oscar is walking a bit gingerly today but he is fine.’
The businessman and his 31-year-old wife also live in Iwerne Minster with Theo and their other son, William, aged two.
Steve Williams, a watch manager at Portland coastguard, said: ‘Oscar is one lucky dog.
‘I can only assume he suffered a bump or two on the way down the cliff which cushioned his fall.
‘We always advise pet owners to keep their dogs on their leads near cliffs as the animals do get excited and can fall over the edge.’
source: dailymail
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