Missing dog rescued from cliff face around volcanic crater lake

A dog has been reunited with his owners after emergency services worked for hours to rescue him from the cliffs around a volcanic crater lake.

Tyson had been missing for a week in the SA city of Mount Gambier before SA Water crews boating on iconic Blue Lake spotted him recently.

The Camilleri family had been missing two dogs, with the other, Odo, located earlier that same week.

Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) station officer Jarrod Petschel said Tyson had managed to get himself about 100 metres over the edge of the walkway around the lake.

"If anyone's been to Blue Lake, it's beautiful, but it's really steep, and quite treacherous terrain," he said.

"So he'd managed to get himself onto a tiny little ledge … and he couldn't go anywhere.

"There were reports from about Tuesday that people could hear a dog barking, but no one could locate it."

Tyson's owner Will Camilleri had moved away from the family home to Melbourne, but was in town the weekend the dogs escaped.

He said he was on the phone with his mother Sabrina during the rescue effort.

"To know there's a chance he might be OK was very relieving," he said.

"There were so many things that could've gone wrong. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Multi-service rescue effort

After one MFS crew attended the scene, the service called for State Emergency Service (SES) support, including a drone.

"We had to set up a lowering system and a hauling system," Mr Petschel said.

"There's lots of communication because the guy on the end of the rope's basically having to communicate via radio how fast or how slow he wants to go.

"There were some parts of it around 30 degrees [incline], and there was [also] 20 to 30 metre drops of vertical rocky cliff face."

Mr Petschel said once they reached Tyson, the rescuer had to earn his trust.

"[Firefighter, Joel Van Eeten,] had to make friends with Tyson, and he was a really big dog so that took about five minutes," Mr Petschel said.

"Once Tyson had confidence in Joel he was like, 'Get me out of here.'

"Joel put him in what we call a nappy — it's meant for people, but he managed to get it — and then got the lead on him.

"Just hauling back up took about 30 minutes."

A heartfelt reunion

Mr Petschel said he "swelled with pride" at how successful the rescue was, and the heartwarming reunion between Tyson and the Camilleri family.

"I'm a dog person, and just to watch Tyson coming up that cliff, he was almost pulling Joel up," he said.

"The owners were there, and it was like a big family reunion because I think they'd started giving up hope.

"He just laid there, and everyone rubbed him on the belly."

Mr Camilleri said Tyson was in relatively good condition but had lost weight.

"Obviously he'd lost weight because of the lack of food and water over the past six days," he said.

"He was completely unscathed, no scratches, no blood, nothing at all.

"We were really blessed."

Normally working in Adelaide, Mr Petschel said he had rescued macaws, cats, possums, bats and lots of koalas, but Tyson's rescue was unique.

"Being an old country town boy myself, I just love working in communities where you see all the volunteers and the full-time [workers] and everyone just kicking in to do something that's really worthwhile," he said.

Mr Camilleri thanked all agencies involved in the rescue.

"Words can't say enough," he said.

"To go from thinking 'the walk I took him on the night before [he went missing] is probably the last time I'm going to see him', to thinking he might be okay has made my world.

"None of it would have happened if not for everyone involved."