A DOG belonging to a Stourport couple survived a 50ft fall from a cliff in Cornwall and had to be rescued by an RNLI lifeguard.

Jasper, a whippet-spaniel cross, went missing last Thursday, chasing rabbits while walking at Pentire Point with his owners, Clifford and Joan Day.

The RNLI lifeguard, Summa Calaghan, paddled out on her surfboard to check the bottom of the cliffs for signs of Jasper and found him shivering in a cove on a rocky ledge.

The relief for Mr and Mrs Day at finding the two-year-old safe and sound was mixed with sadness. Their 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier, Penny, was knocked over and killed just days before the touring couple stopped at a caravan park.

Mr Day said: "Jasper went running past us like a rocket and when he didn't come back I knew that he must have gone over the edge.

"I took the four-mile walk around to the bottom of the cliff and saw two lifeguards on the beach next to where Jasper had gone over.

"A young Australian woman went out twice in a rescue boat and twice on a surfboard and it was only on the last occasion that she found him. Another half an hour and the tide would have come in and he would have been drowned.

"I don't know what we would have done if we had lost Jasper too. It is bad enough having to come back without Penny."

Jasper had been missing for about two and a half hours when the lifeguard went out on her board to look for the dog.

In an interview with the BBC, Ms Calaghan said: "I thought he might have broken his legs but then he tried to run away so I knew he wasn't badly injured."

Mrs Day added: "He was a bit down on the day but is now back to his usual self, with only a grazed nose to show for his ordeal.

"The lifeguard's persistence saved his life. She really did a great job."