Dog owner uses power of Facebook to find man who jumped in reservoir to save her puppy

Samantha Pickup was at the Cowm Reservoir in Whitworth on Wednesday morning, walking her young French Bulldog puppy, Ghost, alongside her baby son in his pram.

Ghost, who is just seven month's old, was chasing a border collie called Billy and as he went over the bridge he fell into the freezing water.

Luckily, Billy's owner, Phil Ibbotson, was nearby and jumped in after Ghost to rescue the young pup.

Mrs Pickup, from Rochdale, was able to thank Mr Ibbotson at the time and managed to get his name, but on returning home decided she wanted to thank him properly and took to social media to see if she could hunt him down.

She put the following appeal on Facebook which read: "Want to say a huge thank you to the gentleman that jumped in the reservoir this morning to get my seven month puppy Ghost, that fell in and was struggling to get out.

"He said his name was Phil. He told me his last name but not sure if he said it was Ibbertson? He had a collie with him called Billy.

"If anyone knows him could they inbox me as I would like to get him something nice to say thanks. I really can’t thank him enough."

Within minutes of posting the plea, Mr Ibbotson was tagged, with hundreds of people labelling him a hero, and congratulating him on his actions.

When he saw the post, he commented, and Mrs Pickup was able to thank him herself.

Mr Ibbotson said: "Thank you for all the nice comments. I only did what anyone else would do.

"Yes it was a tad cold being chest deep in the res, but the dog survived and I am dried out and warmed up now so all is well, and everyone lives another day."

Luckily, Ghost is fine and well at home, with Mrs Pickup adding: "He’s all safe and well. I can’t believe it, Ghost was just chasing Billy around playing and then fell in after the bridge. I think he thought it was a puddle.

"Thank god Phil got him before he went under."