COASTGUARDS were called to a canine rescue on the Isle of Wight after a dog plunged 50ft off a cliff.

But thankfully the elderly mongrel named Huckleberry, who is deaf, hit a soft landing and was buried up to his waist in mud.

The emergency services were called and cliff rescue equipment rigged up to pluck the dog from the cliff face at Chale on the Island.

Rescuer Dave Pragnell winched down the cliff face to rescue the dog, who was not an easy casualty to deal with.

Mr Pragnell said: "When we started the rescue I was told he was a deaf and grumpy dog who suffered with arthritis as well.

"Consequently he was not happy to be stuck in the soft clay and he did give me a slight nip as we tried to rescue him.

"We saw that he was stuck in the soft blue slipper clay up to his middle so winched down to him and used a casualty board to get over to him. We were then able to get him up, out and reunited with his owner."

Amazingly Huckleberry was none the worse for his ordeal, apart from being a bit muddy.

Mr Pragnell, a coastguard of 20 years, said: "We took him to the back of our vehicle on the stretcher but as soon as we released him he ran back to his house, all he needed was a good hose down."

Huckleberry had gone over the cliff while owner Lyn Atkinson was walking him and another dog on Saturday morning.

The alarm was raised by local resident Wendy Hardy, whose husband used to be a coastguard.

Mr Pragnell, who is the deputy station officer at the Needles coastguard base, said: "It was the right thing to give us a call.''