An eight-year-old terrier was trapped underneath a summerhouse for 22 hours before a 'heroic' neighbour came to the rescue.

The owner of an eight-year-old Patterdale terrier called Charlie said she was "worried sick" after her dog vanished while on a walk near Malthouse Square in Beaconsfield on Saturday afternoon.

After Charlie disappeared, Beth Perfect recruited friends and neighbours, including professional dog rescuer Shelley Duff, to trawl the area in search of him - an initially fruitless quest which carried on until 1:30am on Sunday morning.

As the search continued throughout Sunday, a friend of Beth's heard faint whining noises coming from underneath a summerhouse in a residential garden near Malthouse Square Recreation Ground.

In a continuation of what she described as "a great community effort", Beth's next-door neighbour Philip Adams fetched a long plastic tube to stick underneath the summerhouse, bringing Charlie's whining clearly into focus.

"We think he ran off to chase a fox and ended up getting stuck down there," Beth said.

"It was absolutely awful. The rescue operation took three-and-a-half hours and he kept going quiet so there were several times when I thought he might have died."

She described Philip as "a hero" for managing to dig Charlie out of the hole in 30-degree heat and said that the moment he was rescued was "really emotional".

"We got him out just as it was beginning to spit with rain and as we stood there crying with relief, the thunder started.

"He drank two litres of water and then curled up on the floor and was shaking for hours, but we didn't know if that was because of being trapped or because of the storm."

Charlie, who Philip described as "an energetic little character", luckily managed to escape with no physical injuries other than a small cut on his head.

Philip added: "It was a moment of relief when I felt his nose - I think he recognised me straight away. He was really happy to be out and I was so glad too because I had been worried that I'd fill the foxhole in when I was trying to reach him."

Looking on the bright side of what had been an unduly stressful weekend, Beth said she was pleasantly surprised by the amount of help she had received from those around her in the search efforts.

"All my friends were there and so many people were helping to look all around the area. I'm just grateful that it had a happy ending and I can look back now and appreciate all the support that we had."