This is the moment a mischievous cocker spaniel was so determined to get his ball he went diving head first into a muddy swamp.
Greg Moseley, 44, had taken Chester, four, on his daily walk through Warsash village in Hampshire on December 5 when they decided to play fetch down a hill.
Footage shows the pooch wading through thick mud to try and retrieve his ball, getting covered in sludge from head to toe.
Cocker spaniel Chester, four, jumped head first into a swamp to fetch his favourite ball Warsash village in Hampshire on December 5
Chester’s owner had thrown his pet’s favourite ball and watched as it bounced straight into a bog, and the canine dived in after it.
He tries to point out where the red ball has went, but the poor mutt struggles to spot it, digging his head around in the muck.
Greg, from Southampton, Hampshire, laughs as he tries to point and guide Chester to the object sitting on top of the muck as the dog wiggles around under it.
When the dog finally gets out of the swamp, he is filthy and covered in sludge, but seems very pleased with himself.
The IT consultant’s clip went viral on Facebook where it racked up more than 26,000 reactions.
Greg laughs as he tries to point and guide Chester to the object as the dog wiggles around, submerged in the muck
He said: ‘He’d gone properly under the mud. He was bog snorkelling.
‘You’ll never keep a spaniel from a ball. He’s very determined. He’s always up to mischief.
‘Chester was happy as Larry afterwards. You could see he has it in his mouth then spits it back out, smiling, as if to say ‘got it’. His tail never stops.
‘You’ve got to laugh. It’s a load of fun and nothing a hose won’t sort.’
Greg and his wife Caroline regularly walk the same route with their furry friend and he’d always loved running down the hill after his ball.
Greg said: ‘We stand at the top of the hill and throw the ball down a couple of times. He chases it down and brings it back up.
‘Right at the bottom there’s a bog and on this occasion, it went into there.
‘I stood at the top of the hill and after five minutes of him trying to get the ball out, I had to go down and help him. That’s when I saw the state he was in.
Greg Moseley, 44, from Southampton, Hampshire, said that you’ll ‘never keep a spaniel from a ball’ and that his pooch is ‘always up to mischief’
‘This is the first time the ball’s bounced into the bog. I didn’t realise until he’d disappeared into it.
‘He was diving under the mud to get the ball out. It was obviously on top, but he couldn’t see it.
The family continued their walk and found a horse trough for the happy spaniel to take an impromptu bath in, before they hosed him down next to their car.
After posting the video online, dad-of-two Greg claims some people suggested he should have dragged the dog away – but he insists the spaniel is just too determined.
‘In some of the comments people have said ‘you should have left it and walk away’.
‘If you walk away, he won’t. Or we’ll get 100 metres up and he’ll go running back to get it again when we let him off the lead.
‘He’s gun dog trained to some level so he’ll keep on going until he’s achieved what he wants.’
When the clip went viral on Facebook, some commenters were quick to point out the risks of letting a dog go into a bog.
One said: ‘While the dog might be having fun, I wouldn’t have let mine go in there. You have no idea how deep [it is] and the dog or yourself could run into difficulties.’
However the vast majority of commenters found the footage hilarious and thousands of commenters pointed out that it would be something their dog would do.
One said: ‘There doesn’t even have to be a ball. Spaniels love to bath in mud…’
Another wrote: ‘That’s exactly what my spaniel does. She could find mud and water in a desert.’
A third joked: ‘Ah, the elusive bog spaniel. There’s nothing better.’