Dog chases rabbit then saves its life

Chester, a two year old Labrador saw a rabbit while out walking with his owner Paul Marshall and gave chase. To Mr Marshall’s amazement the rabbit jumped into the pond and began swimming away.

The incident happened when Mr Marshall was out walking Chester near his home in Richmond, North Yorkshire. He explained, "I had never seen a rabbit swim before. It was going really fast, it really was flying along."

Mr Marshall tried to get Chester to come back when she got too close to the rabbit in the middle of the pond. "It’s quite a big pond and I was worried she was going to get into difficulty – and also the rabbit.

"But just as I started to really get a bit worried the rabbit doubled back and changed direction. They do that on land when they’re chased and it seemed to do the same thing in the water.

"But I couldn’t believe what happened next. Chester went to turn as well, but because she’s bigger she wasn’t as quick. I think the rabbit must have been tired and frightened it was going to drown, because it saw the change to get on Chester’s back.

"It scrambled onto her back and just sat there. Chester looked a bit bewildered by this. She couldn’t get to the rabbit on her back, so she started swimming back in. I was just amazed I couldn’t believe what was happening.

"It must have been on her back for about a minute or more and then as soon as she was in the shallower water and could stand up, the rabbit jumped off and started to run away again.

"Chester chased it again but the rabbit was too quick and escaped under a hedge."

Mr Marshall who walks Chester regularly near the pond, always has a camera with him and was able to take photos of the drama as events unfolded. He said, "I always have it with me, I like taking pictures as a hobby, so when I saw this happening I wanted to get some photos because I didn’t think anyone would ever believe me otherwise."

This is not the first time a rabbit has got the better of Chester. When she was a year old she chased a rabbit into a hedge and got caught in barbed wire. Her leg was badly cut requiring 18 stitches.