A teenage farmer jumped into a slurry pit to save his beloved family pet from drowning in muck.

Ellis Sage was putting up some fencing at his family’s Peak Hill Road farm when he heard springer spaniel Faithful whining.

The 17-year-old discovered the dog stuck in the five-feet-deep pit - and didn’t hesitate to dive in.

“My head and arms were clear, but Fatihful couldn’t swim in it - that was the problem, but I couldn’t leave my dog,” said Bicton College student Ellis.

“My sister was panicking. It didn’t take a long time to get Faithful.

“She was a bit cold and dirty and we got her out and cleaned her up.

“We have had her since I was little - she is a family pet. She is pretty well loved by me and the family.

“I was up putting some fencing up for my sister’s horses and we have a slurry pit for the cows and I turned around and heard a whining sound and it was Faithful.”

Faithful, eight, became stuck in the slurry pit last Friday morning. Ellis’s sister Georgia had been helping her brother put up the fencing when the incident occurred.

She said: “I thought we were going to lose her as she was quite far away.”

Mandy Spiller, Ellis’s stepmum, said: “We are very proud because you do not know what to expect when you get into something like that.

“It’s like he said, he didn’t think, but he had to go in to get her out. He’s the reason she’s here today.”