LUCKY black Labrador Daisy had barely a care in the world as she tucked into her boiled egg and soldiers for a special breakfast treat only a day after being rescued from the River Teifi.
The fortunate pooch had been walking with owners Alison and Gary Day, on holiday from their Brighton home, when she fell into the fast-flowing river near Cilgerran and sparked a major rescue operation on Tuesday (November 5).
“We are here for a couple of weeks and our daughter is joining us at the weekend and we just wanted to walk the path between Cilgerran and Cardigan to see what it was like. We had set out about 9.15,” said Alison, who is a dog sitter back home.
“One minute she was on the path and the next minute she was gone and we could not see her but I told Gary we could not go in after her as dogs often get out and their owners don’t.”
The couple kept going along the path, calling out Daisy’s name and desperately scanning the river but there was no sign of the nine-year-old dog, who they have had since she was a puppy.
When they reached the Wildlife Centre, they met someone who went to report that Daisy was missing while they carried on looking before going to the Priory Vets in Cardigan.
There, a full-scale search was triggered, with both Cardigan’s RNLI lifeboats launched, along with a team from Cardigan Coastguard.
Alison and Gary went back along the river to continue their search and it was at this point they heard Daisy had been found by a group which was out on the river with Llandysul Paddlers.
Joey Chapman, from Llandysul Paddlers, had been on the Teifi with a group from Rhydygors School, in Carmarthen, and it was the youngsters who had spotted the dog in the water, raised the alarm and then Joey managed to grab her.
Daisy was handed over to the RNLI to return her, none the worse for her two-hour ordeal, to a very relieved Alison and Gary.
“As we crossed the bridge, we could see the lifeboat coming back with her in it,” said Gary.
“We cannot thank everyone enough. It’s amazing what they did for us and Daisy and they are all volunteers – it’s just fantastic and we are so grateful.
“We did fear we would not see her again. This might seem strange, but her father’s name was Fish and that might explain why she’s such a good swimmer.”
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