Heroic child wades through pond to rescue elderly dog trapped in bushes for 48 hours

A heroic boy waded through a pond to rescue a dog trapped in bushes that had been missing for 48 hours.

John and Robbie Stanley, 10 and 11 respectively, were fishing near their home when they spotted a chihuahua trapped in reeds.

The young boys immediately called their mother Allison and asked if they could go and rescue her.

A video shows the rescue as Allison's son Robbie wades through the water and retrieves the dog using his mum's sweater.

Allison Stanley, 32, from San Antonio, Texas, USA, said: "My first reaction was thinking no way would I let him go, but I would go.

"When I saw her I immediately I knew she needed help.

"I could clearly see she was old and blind and likely missing teeth, so I wasn't too worried about her biting him.

"With her being so tiny I didn't see any risk in him going in after her.

"We do not have alligators or anything dangerous in the waters here and I knew it wasn't too deep so I allowed it.

"He got to be the hero, which he deserved.

"He used my sweater to grab her in case she were to bite, but she didn't.

"She just let him scoop her right up."

After getting the dog onto dry land, the young boy and their mum took the dog home and gave her some care to warm her up.

Allison added: "We slowly warmed her with our body heat and warm towels.

"We drove her back to our house and after some time gave her a warm bath.

"Then dried her off and gave her some soaked warm dog kibble."

Allison and her family set to find the owner and did some research online.

They discovered that the dog had been missing for more than 48 hours.

They managed to reunite the dog with its owners the same night - who revealed the dog was 19 years old.

The footage was captured on March 17.