BITING cold descended on Craven this week - hardly the weather for wading chest deep in a frozen river.

But that's exactly what Ray Rycroft did to rescue a dog from Skipton's Royal Shepherd pub on Wednesday.

Ray, 58, of Silsden, has been calling at the pub on Canal Street for over 12 months to take lively black Labrador Max for his daily walk.

The three-year-old dog lived up to his nickname of Mad Max when he set off across the frozen river in Skipton Woods after seeing a bird. "He's always in the water," said Ray. "But this time the river was frozen and the ice gave way."

Surrounded by unbroken ice, Max was trapped in the water. "There was nothing else for it but to go into the river and get him," said Ray. "I knew it wasn't too deep so I started walking on the ice. I knew it would break, but I was sure we'd get out again."

As soon as the ice broke, Max scrambled out and just as Ray was starting to drag himself out he felt a hand on his shoulder.

His rescuer was passerby Ronald Clough, from Keighley. "I slid down the bank and grabbed him by both shoulders," he told the Herald.

Neither Ray nor Max were any the worse for their ordeal.

l Skipton Athletics Club members Richard Barrett and Lee Athersmith, waded into the canal near Keighley Road to haul out a sheep, that had fallen through the ice.