FOR 56 hours a little Jack Russel x Lakeland terrier was stuck down a rabbit hole, having dug herself in and piled soil up behind her.  She was stuck fast.

She belongs to Bracken Jelier who lives at Upton Hellions near Crediton.  Flossie is a rescue dog she has had for almost seven years.

“She often goes rumpeting about in the garden but by the afternoon she had not returned which was unusual.  We began looking for her, into fields looking down rabbit holes.  We were looking most of Monday night (April 25).

“We didn’t think anyone had taken her.  We continued looking for her but by Wednesday afternoon there was no sight of her and we were putting stuff on social media in case she had got lost.

Bracken said: “Someone said he had two dogs trained to look for dogs underground.  He came along at 5am on Thursday with two little Jack Russells.  After a couple of hours Tom said she was not here.

“Then at 2pm our neighbour who had been out looking for her had heard barking by one of their hedges.   As I got there I heard Flossie howling.  We found her 50 yards away down a rabbit hole.

“It was another roller coaster ride.  We called Tom back with his dogs who dug and dug and we did not know if she was there, then my partner heard a tiny bark coming from under the hedge.

“Tom got his shovel and began digging, saw this little face.  She had dug the earth up behind her and was stuck.  We pulled her out.  She had been there for 56 hours, she was very thin and stank.

“She had food, baths and lots of water.  The video we took went viral and had more than four million viewers all over the world.”