Fire and rescue crews were called to rescue a puppy from the river in Douglas yesterday afternoon.

The sausage dog had fallen into the river near Tesco on the Lake Road side.

Crew members were at the scene for about an hour an a half after a call from the member of the public.

However, they couldn’t find either the puppy or its owner .

Later the owner contacted emergency services to say that the puppy, named Penny, was las seen by the river on Lake Road.

A fire and rescue service spokesman said: ‘At this time we were fearing the worst as the puppy had been missing for a number of hours and had been seen falling into the river which was moving fast with strong currents.

‘The weather was poor and the puppy’s chance of survival was extremely slim. ‘

But at 7.49pm emergency services were phoned by a member of the public to say they believed they had seen the animal near Tesco.

Crews were sent again and were met by a small crowd of people who were looking for the puppy.

The puppy was located on the river bank. Firefighters accessed the bank using ladders and were able to rescue the puppy, which fire fighters said was very frightened but now safe.

The owners of Penny were delighted to be reunited with her.