Lucky Bracken the spaniel literally had a spring in her step when she managed to survive hurtling headfirst over a 50 foot Falmouth cliff onto rocks below.

The plucky springer spaniel lived up to her breed by bouncing back from her ordeal at Maenporth with minimal side effects of just a cut lip and a scratched bottom.

It was not until vets gave her a precautionary x-ray that her astonished owner discovered there was more to the tale than first met the eye - greedy Bracken was found with a coiled spring inside her stomach, after munching on a clothes peg.

Her relieved owner Michaela Smith, from Meadowside Road, this week sent her heartfelt thanks to the members of the Falmouth Cliff Rescue Team, as well as Carl Gilbert from the Maenporth beach cafe Life's a Beach, who called for help.

Michaela told the Packet: "I just want to say a very big thank you. I just feel without them I don't think she would be here, I really don't. Also to Carl at Maenporth cafe for calling them and making sure I was ok."

As reported in last week's Packet, two-year-old Bracken was being taken for a walk across the cliffs at Maenporth when she went bounding over the cliff edge.

Michaela explained that she usually walked Bracken and the family's other springer spaniel, ten-year-old Lloyd, along Gyllyngvase but had decided to go for an extra-long stroll as a treat for the dogs.

"They did a bit of swimming in the sea and then whether Bracken saw a rabbit or a bit or what - because she goes for anything that moves - and she was off. All I saw was her were legs and bum go over," she said.

Michaela immediately grabbed Lloyd and put him on a lead, before she looked over the edge of the cliff, fearing the worst.

"When I looked over she was on the rocks stretched out and I thought she was dead. I was screaming for help and hysterical. Really, truthfully, my life had ended. She means so much to me and all the family. When she went over, that was it - she's such a part of us. When I did look over the cliff I thought she had gone and all I wanted to do was bring her back," she said.

Michaela alerted Carl at the cafe and he phoned for the cliff rescue team, before heading back with her to the cliff edge to see if there was anything he could do.

Michaela continued: "I looked over and she wasn't there and then all of a sudden I saw her running around on the rocks. It was a real relief to see. I just don't know how she survived."

Bracken was taken to the Amos and Penny veterinary surgery in Parc Briwer, Penryn, for an emergency check up and given painkillers, with an x-ray taken two days later to check she had not sustained any internal injuries. It was then that the discovery of the spring was found.

Michaela, her partner Colin and his two children are the third family to own Bracken, with the first two deciding the boisterous dog was too much to handle. However, it appears to be third time lucky for Bracken, who has now settled in as an essential member of the family after arriving to live with them 15 months ago.