Daredevil dog barking up a tree

Maybe she's trying to catch a cat or perhaps she's looking for a bone.

But whatever the reason, this adventurous pooch certainly takes morning walkies to new heights by scaling a 30ft tree every day like clockwork.

Penny, the three-year-old Jack Russell, has a head for heights and loves nothing more than scampering up the trees at East Park, Wolverhampton, each morning.

Her owner, 68-year-old Gwen Lloyd, said Penny's antics raise one or two eyebrows at the park.

She said: "It's amazing what Penny does. People stop and stare as she climbs the tree. They can't believe she goes so high. I have seen people taking videos of Penny going up the tree on their mobile phones."

Mrs Lloyd is used to seeing her pooch 30ft above the ground, as she's been climbing the tree for more than two years.

She added: "She was only about six months old when she first started going up the tree. She'd go about halfway and then come back down, because she was scared.

"It's only recently that she has carried on going until she's almost at the very top. I think, as she has got older and probably a bit braver, she's wanted to go further up than just the middle.

"I couldn't believe it when I looked up and I could see her almost at the top. She was just a little dot sitting up that high."

Mrs Lloyd, a retired typist, has another Jack Russell – Jessie, aged five.

But Mrs Lloyd admits that Jessie has never been tempted to take a leaf out of Penny's book and copy her amazing tree-climbing antics.

She said: "Jessie is nothing like Penny. She likes to keep her paws firmly on the ground. She'll just stand there and watch Penny going up the tree."

Mrs Lloyd said she had no idea why Penny was so keen to scale the heights but said she was a very clever dog.

She added: "Penny is a little monkey but a very intelligent dog. She is extremely intuitive and just loves to climb."

Perhaps it could be something unusual in Penny's diet, but Mrs Lloyd said that she only feeds her pets tins of dog food and on occasions they are treated to a dish of chicken and rice.

She said: "Maybe Penny could win talent shows in the future. I'm sure she'd impress on a show like Britain's Got Talent."