Little dog Bonnie's big cliff ordeal has a happy ending

Bonnie the blonde long-haired dachshund was on the beach between Amroth and Wisemans Bridge with her owner Melanie Worgan last Friday morning when she was scared by another dog.

"Bonnie was absolutely frightened to death and she panicked and shot out of sight up the cliffs," said Mel, who was given her pet as a 50th birthday present.

"I called her and called her, but she wouldn't come down, so I rang the coastguards.

"They said the cliff was too dangerous to climb up, and when they went to the coast path the overgrowth was too dense.

"I was devastated, I just didn't know what to do."

Bonnie was in an unreachable position on the cliff face

Mel, from Chepstow, who spends weekdays at her home in Ludchurch, made an appeal for help on the Missing Dogs Team Wales site, which came to the attention of dog lovers Jo Scourfield and Ali Rees.

Ali, from Jameston, called in the help of a friend, professional climber Alan Richardson who enlisted fellow climbers Tom Horton, Alfie and Hugo.

Meanwhile Nathan Jenkins from Drone SAR had also volunteered his services.

"By now it was 10pm and getting dark, and we could hear Bonnie barking. They went up the cliff and spotted her completely out of reach on a big plate of ground.

"I was back there at 6.30 the following morning, just doing my nut because there seemed to be no way of getting Bonnie."

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Mel continued to call out to 12-month-old Bonnie, who was named after the singer Bonnie Tyler "because she's Welsh and blonde". 

"By the middle of the morning there were crowds gathering, and the police were there as well.

"I could see Bonnie running across the ridge about 40 metres up, but time was running out as the tide was coming in.

"She was looking at me as if to say 'don't leave me'.

"By the end of the afternoon, Ali suggested that I called her on my own and she gradually came down and down to where I was able to grab her by the scruff of her neck.

Mel shares the good news ok Bonnie's rescue with her family

"It was an experience I wouldn't wish on anybody and I just want to say how marvellous everybody was.

"It was just a fabulous feeling," said Ali, who set up the Dog Friendly Pembrokeshire scheme for businesses. "It was so disheartening and worrying that we couldn't reach Bonnie on the first day.

"Everybody was just brilliant and I was literally jumping for joy when she was safely back with Mel.

"It's so heartwarming that so many people were prepared to turn out to help, and I'm so glad there was a happy ending."