A PLUCKY Cocker Spaniel helped save a baby porpoise that was stranded on a beach.

Young pooch Leia, two, alerted her owner Rich Wilcock, from Buckley, of the porpoise which had become stranded on Criccieth Beach in Gwynedd on Sunday by running to and from the animal while barking.

Mr Wilcock, 42, took a video showing the adorable pup helping alert him to the stranded sea creature before he carried out a rescue, which has now been viewed thousands of times.

He said: “I was out fishing and I went out into the water for about five minutes.

“I was taking photographs with my back turned and Leia was going nuts and barking at me and going back and then I found it.

“She doesn’t usually bark or make that sort of sound.”

Mr Wilcock said if it was not for the dog, it would be unlikely that he would have seen the creature stranded on the largely deserted beach.

He said: “I had waders on so I couldn’t go quite up to it.

“I waded in about a foot and a half and then I managed to push him back out.

“I spoke to the Sea Watch foundation and they said they would usually get a team out but I didn’t have mobile signal on the beach so I wouldn’t have been able to get anyone out.

“I was miles from anywhere and he was getting restless.”

After putting the video on to Facebook, Mr Wilcock said it had more than 2,000 views within an hour. He added: “I have not ever seen a porpoise beached up but hopefully it has gone on its way.

“She [Leia] acted really intelligently. I have another working Cocker Spaniel who is very intelligent and there is a clear difference between the two on intelligence day to day but she was very intelligent that day.”