Two-and-a-half miles out to sea, near the Stella Marie wreck, they picked up an elderly dog struggling to stay afloat.

The crew of Steven Frith, Ian Ellarby and Chris Ashworth managed to get the female Staffordshire bull terrier safely aboard.

Little did they know that back in Fleetwood, the dog’s owners had been frantically searching for their missing pet for hours.

But the ‘tail’ had a happy ending, thanks to the joint efforts of the lifeboat lads, the police, the RSPCA and dog kennel staff.

Owners Richard and Jean Wetherill, of Lark Court, Fleetwood, now have their beloved pet, named Kelly (pictured), safely home.

Jean, 74, said: “We’re so grateful to all the people who helped get her back.

“It is all down to the different agencies working so well together.”

The drama began at around 11am on Sunday morning, when Jean went for a walk on the seafront near to the Sea Cadet Base.

Kelly, who is 11 years old, started to chase seagulls and ran off along the beach.

Despite efforts by Jean, her daughter and passers-by to get her back, Kelly had disappeared, and they spent the next six hours fruitlessly searching for her up and down the coast.

Jean finally went home and phoned the police, who then contacted the RSPCA, who in turn had already taken a call from Fleetwood Lifeboat about the exhausted little dog they had picked up earlier.

The RSPCA just had time to get the terrier into kennels before the staff there went home for the day. Finally Kelly, traumatised and very tired, was reunited with Richard and Jean.

Lifeboat helmsman Ian Ellarby said: “Thankfully, one of our lifeboat colleagues had been out angling in the King’s Scar area and raised the alarm after spotting her. She would never have made it back to shore.”