Lucky Sasha back home safe

Sasha, 13-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier cross, escaped with just a gash to her leg after plunging 40ft off a cliff in Whitburn, Tyne & Wear.

The dog had been at home playing in the family's garden with their new puppy when Sasha managed to get out and wander off.

She began to follow a couple walking along the nearby cliff-tops but lost her footing and fell over the edge. The couple immediately contacted the emergency services and an inshore lifeboat went searching for Sasha, finding her in a cove close to Jackie's Beach.

Sasha was laid in a dog recovery bag and taken to the village's veterinary surgery, where she was treated for a wound to her hind leg, while the rescue team searched for her owner, Deborah Ventress.

Mrs Ventress says she now plans to microchip her dogs following the incident.

"Sasha is dead friendly, and she'd run up to the couple and was running around them, but she doesn't know the area around there well and she fell. She'd been gone for about an hour and we'd obviously panicked.

"Sasha's still a bit subdued and shocked. She's been warming by the fire to recover."