Alpine rescue team saves St Bernard rescue dog from mountain

16 mountaineers had to rescue Daisy the 55kg St Bernards dog. Photo / Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team

Who rescues the rescue dog?

A team of mountain rescuers were called to the aid of a St Bernard dog on the side of England's tallest mountain.

The breed of dog is better known for its use in alpine rescues - but this time it was four-year-old Daisy who needed need of help from the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team (MRT).

A team of 16 mountaineers had to scale Scafell Pike - a mountain in northwest England - in order to bring the 55kg dog to safety.

On Friday, police were contacted regarding the dog which had collapsed on the way down the mountain. The Wasdale MRT said they "didn't need to think twice about mobilising and deploying to help retrieve Daisy".

St Bernards have traditionally been bred by Alpine rescue services to find missing mountaineers. Sent with a barrel of restorative brandy around their neck, the large dogs are able to bring comfort to stranded climbers and lead rescuers through treacherous terrain.

St Bernards were bred to conduct Alpine rescue missions, carrying brandy and blankets. Photo / Sir Henry Landseer, Wikimedia Commons

However, Daisy had clearly had enough. It took rescuers five hours on Friday to carry the exhausted dog off the mountainside.

A spokesperson for MRT told the BBC it was not unusual for the team to be called to the aid of "canine casualties", though this was the first time a St Bernard needed help.

"Daisy was a four-year-old female but still a massive dog," said MRT.

The St Bernard's temperament was "extremely placid and compliant, which was a bonus for the stretcher-carry off the mountain.

"It was important to get Daisy off the mountain quickly as the weather was due to deteriorate later that evening."

It was explained by Daisy's owner that she had been a "rescue dog" in another sense, saying she had been adopted from a pet charity.

They imagined the dog's subdued mood must have come about through exhaustion but also embarrassment "about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across the Alpine snows with barrels of brandy around their necks."

The dog's owner, understandably, did not want to be identified.