A DOG had to be rescued from a frozen canal in Deighton last night.
Firefighters from Mirfield and Brighouse were called to the stretch of water at the back of Leeds Road playing fields at 8.30pm.
The dog’s owner raised the alarm after the animal fell into a lock and was trapped on thin ice.
A specialist water rescue unit from Brighouse helped rescue the animal - believed to be a boxer or Staffordshire bull terrier.
The crew – dressed in dry suits -used an inflatable boat to reach the stranded dog.
Crew manager Ian Clough – one of the rescuers – said: "The dog was very cold and frightened.
"The ice started cracking as we went on it and the dog started going into the water.
"It came to us and we and we managed to pull it into the boat.
"The owner was very grateful. It was lucky he hadn’t gone down to rescue it because the ice was only an inch thick. It wouldn’t have supported a person.
"If he had gone in, he wouldn’t have come out alive. It was freezing."
The dog was cold but uninjured.
