Dog Overboard! Roxy the Bulldog Rescued from Looe River by RNLI Volunteers

It all happened in under 20 minutes—here’s how Looe’s RNLI crew saved the day

Bulldog in the Water

Roxy the Bulldog was safely rescued from the Looe river on the morning of Monday, 31st March 2025, after accidentally falling in near Pennyland. The drama unfolded right across from Looe RNLI’s lifeboat station, where volunteer crew were quickly alerted to the incident.

Members of the RNLI team had overheard a radio message between harbour staff about a dog in the river. Before heading to the station, the crew contacted the duty launch authority Dave, who immediately paged additional volunteers to assist. As Dave was on the phone to Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), he received a formal tasking request—999 calls about the dog were already flooding in.

Rapid Response

Within six minutes, head launcher Brian and tractor driver Eric were preparing the D Class inshore lifeboat Ollie Naismith II for launch. Crew members Tom, Victoria and Will were on scene almost immediately, locating Roxy in the water near the Pennyland walkway. Her owner, Liam, had already waded in to help his pet, with passers-by assisting by lowering one of the life rings.

After confirming that both Liam and Roxy were uninjured, the crew brought them on board the lifeboat and ferried them across the river to the station. Shore crew Adam, Dan, Amber and Mark helped recover the lifeboat on arrival.

A Close Call

Roxy’s owner Liam was later joined by his partner at the lifeboat station. As the couple left with Roxy, they thanked the crew for their quick response and asked them to pass on their “heartfelt thanks” to the members of the public who raised the alarm and came to help.

Liam explained that Roxy is partially sighted and normally kept on a lead. He believes they lost their footing, and Roxy fell into the water. Thankfully, she landed in the river rather than on exposed rocks, avoiding injury.

The volunteer crew were relieved to find both Roxy and Liam unscathed. After giving Roxy a bowl of water, they reflected on how close the incident was to the station—and how the entire callout lasted less than 20 minutes from the moment the pager went off.