A RELIEVED dog owner has described the moment she watched her pet hurtle 20ft over a cliff edge and her gratitude to the coastguards that rescued him.

Marj MacCallum had been staying in Porthleven with friend Lindsay Gannon when they began a walk on the coastpath.

With a fence on one side and a field on the other, Marj believed it safe to let springer spaniel Monty off the lead - something she now regrets.

Marj said: "It was too early to let him off, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I do appreciate I have a responsibility as a dog owner and he shouldn't have been off his lead."

Fixated on chasing a bird, Monty ran straight over the edge of the cliff through a gap in the fence where the ground had started to erode.

However, she believes this is what actually saved 20-month-old Monty - a rescue dog she has owned since he was around six months - as the recently fallen grass and soil cushioned the landing for the dog.

"If he hadn't gone down this side we would probably have lost him, because he probably wouldn't have had a soft landing and would have hit rocks. It doesn't bear thinking about; it was just horrific," added Marj.

She said she turned into "everything you shouldn't" in such a situation and would likely have tried going after Monty if her friend hadn't stopped her.

As it was they called Porthleven Coastguards, who she has only praise for after they used ropes to scale the cliff edge and bring Monty back up to the top.

"They were magnificent. I'm sure for a lot of them weekends are a precious time and they didn't hesitate in coming out and leaving their families behind, even though they were coming to rescue a dog.

"They were so professional and very kind. They were very non-judgemental and just got on with the job in hand. I'm really very grateful to them," she added.

Marj said Monty had now "realised he can't fly," but apart from that: "We're not sure he's learned anything from this. He's just a baby. Outside is just this marvellous playground."