HERE’S a tail that ends well.

When Labrador-Collie cross, Jake, decided to take a Sunday morning stroll in the garden, he can hardly have expected to plummet 60 feet to the bottom of a well shaft.

But when the ground in a garden in Blandford gave way beneath him, a rescue mission began lasting more than two hours.

The 14-year-old dog was winched to safety from the floor of the chalk lined well, one of three in the garden at the town centre property in Orchard Street.

A member of the animal rescue team from Poole was lowered down the well shaft and strapped Jake into a red rescue basket while fire crews from Blandford made the scene safe. When the firefighter emerged, the pooch was hoisted to safety.

And while Jake can be said to have had a ‘ruff’ time, he may be considered lucky to escape with a cut eye and a dusty coat.

Blandford station manager, Mike Cox, said the rescue had been “particularly difficult”.