Port Fairy residents band together to rescue Monty the curious canine from rocks on East Beach

Adelaide's Sam Eames, who is visiting family in Port Fairy, a coastal town in south-western Victoria, was walking her 11-year-old cockerspaniel Monty on East Beach about 8.30am on Monday morning.

The curious beachcomber who "regularly gets himself into trouble" was lured to some rocks by the scent of some chicken bones someone had discarded.

"I turned around and I couldn't see him anywhere," Mrs Eames said.

"I heard him yelling but I couldn't see him for ages."

Mrs Eames said Monty had somehow become wedged under large rocks.

"I could see his snout way down the bottom under five large boulders," she said.

Mrs Eames said there was no way she - or people on the beach who offered to help - could lift the boulders to free Monty.

"I phoned the SES and they got here very quickly," Mrs Eames said.

A decision was made to contact Bamstone and a digger was brought in to remove the rocks to free the frightened pooch.

Mrs Eames said Monty, who is deaf, was crying during the rescue, which took about two hours.

"He's deaf so he couldn't hear me talking to him and he couldn't lift his head up to see through the cracks," she said.

However, Monty - who is known as Montgomery when he misbehaves - was back to his usual self once he was freed.

"He was wagging his tail, he was very happy," she said.

"He gets himself into a lot of trouble - he raided the chocolate at Christmas time. He's definitely Montgomery today," she laughed.

Mrs Eames said she was astounded by the number of people who offered to help.

"Everyone has been absolutely amazing - the SES, the surf club, Moyne Shire and Bamstone," she said.

"They lifted about six massive boulders to get him out - there's no way anyone could have lifted them.

"I'd like to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart."

Port Fairy SES unit controller Steve McDowell said a call alerting him to the incident came in before 9am.

"We got a call to say there was a dog stuck under rocks at Apex Park at East Beach," Mr McDowell said.

"We arrived and found their dog under fairly large rocks on the seawall at the beach."

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Mr McDowell said initial attempts to reach Monty proved fruitless.

"We couldn't reach the dog and he was unable to turn around and get himself out," Mr McDowell said.

"We did some co-ordinating with Moyne Shire and the surf club and we set up an exclusion zone on the beach."

Mr McDowell said Bamstone offered to bring in an excavator to free Monty.

"They removed some of the rocks and once that we done, we were able to extricate the dog," he said.

"The dog looks fit and healthy.

"The owners were delighted, as were the onlookers gathered."

Mr McDowell said the rescue operation was a team effort. He said a dog rescue was a first for him.

"I've been to a few incidents where a cow or horse has been trapped, but this was a first," Mr McDowell said.