A Tauranga woman who saved a dog trapped in mud during rising tides last week is being hailed a hero by its owners.

Jess Herbert is the proud rescuer of Jack, who became lodged in mud at Waimapu Estuary on Thursday afternoon.

Tauranga Animal Rescue owner Eva Tate says the dog was in severe danger at the time of the rescue.

'He was literally stuck in the mud, and couldn't move. With the tide coming in there is a very real possibility he would have drowned.”

She says a video sent into her by a nearby resident showed Jack mobile at the time, but he was unable to get through the mud or water.

'We were notified by someone who adopted a dog from us a year ago who lives in the area,” says Eva.

'She told us she had called the council and SPCA who both said it was the others job to solve it.

'I advised her to call the fire brigade and police, packed up my kid and raced into town. Luckily another lady who adopted a dog from us saw the post and went over and got him out herself.

'The fire brigade was amazing and so quick with their response.”

Jess says she was nearby when she spotted a call for help online.

'I'm a dog groomer out near Fraser Cove and I was stopping for lunch in between when I saw a post on the Tauranga Animal Rescue page saying there was a dog stuck in the wetlands.

'I jumped out of the car and went to look for him. I could see him out in the distance and he was up to his belly in mud.

'We started yelling out, whistling at him and tried getting his attention. Luckily he could hear us and he started coming towards us.

'When he got to us he was very wary and exhausted so I got my partner to run back to the shop and grab a lead so we could walk him back.

'We called his owner and he was super grateful that we called him back in because the tide was coming in and an old dog stuck in the mud isn't a good situation.”

Jess says after rescuing him, herself and her partner Harry took Jack back to the shop and gave him a groom.

'From that we actually ended up gaining a new client for life. He's come in and had another groom since the rescue and we were able to check up on him and see he was okay.”