There was concern and confusion at Morden Hall Park earlier this week after the London Fire Brigade were called just after midday.

But as witness Sally Line described things, it was a little bit over the top.

As she was walking though the park on October 2, she saw what looked like four fire engines parked near one of the ponds.

At first she thought it might have been a training drill.

So she asked what all the fuss was about and was shocked to find out the LFB had been called out because a dog was in a pond.

"Any reasonable person there would have thought what absolute overkill," she said.

"Maybe if the fire service employees are trained to say 'It’s just a small scale animal rescue but when there is no other call on our services, we use such instances to train” that would be better."

A spokesman for the LFB confirmed that two fire engines and two rescue units did indeed attend the scene, which was over just before 1.30pm.

“We would always urge members of the public to call the RSPCA in the first instance if they see an animal stuck or in distress," the spokesman said.

“If the RSPCA require our assistance, they will call us and we are happy to assist with our specialist equipment.

“Firefighters love animals too and we will always help if the RSPCA need us to, but we should only be called for emergencies.”

Alls well that ends well though as the dog lives to swim another day.