Police asked for the help of Moffat Mountain Rescue Team on Wednesday afternoon after springer spaniel Louis’ owners reported the pup had fallen in the waterfall.
The 15-month-old dog had slipped his lead and fallen a deadly distance below the main path.
Two rescue teams were dispatched on either side of the waterfall to try and find Louis. The team could hear him whining but he was very difficult to locate.
A team spokesman added: “After about 45 minutes of searching, he was spotted by the search team on a small ledge having fallen over 300 feet. There was still another 300 foot of vertical drop below Louis’ resting place.”
They set up a technical lower with ground anchors and lowered a team member down to the very frightened dog.
It took some time to calm Louis down and coax him into a rucksack while the team above changed the lower into the technical raise with a pulley system to bring the team member and Louis back up to safety.
Miraculously, Louis was not injured and was able to walk off the hill. He was soon reunited with his extremely grateful and excited owners at 4.30 pm, close to five hours after the incident occurred.
A spokesman said: “All in all, a very satisfying day’s rescue for the team. The whole of the team wishes Louis well and hope he gets a good supper tonight.”
Louis’ owners Helen and David McKean have thanked the rescue team and others involved.
Helen said: “I immediately thought that we definitely had lost Louis. It all happened so quickly; it was awful.
“We then could hear Louis barking but we didn’t know the injuries he had suffered. It was good to hear him but also distressing because we didn’t know how hurt he was.
“I’m so thankful to the police, the four young boys who were looking for Louis and of course the Moffat Rescue team, they were tremendous and can’t thank them enough. Louis is back to his cheeky self already with only a little scraped knee to show for it.”
