Hero pet lovers crossed a river and trekked a mountain to save a stray dog that had been stuck on a steep cliffside for four days.

Brave rescuer Francis Poh and three other volunteers set out on the mission at 8 am following reports the lost pooch was wandering around the forest in Petaling Jaya city, Malaysia on March 19.

The group took a motorboat along a river to the remote hill and searched for the best route to reach the animal.

Dramatic footage shows how the pooch was finally carried to safety more than eight hours later at 4:30 pm.

Relieved Francis said: 'We were sunburned and our stamina was tested to the max. The mission needed Navy Seals because it involved water, land, climbing, and hiking.

'We did two parts, first from the lake and the second from the top of the jungle. We did it successfully without major injuries but minor cuts.'

Footage shows how Francis and the small team docked at the foot of the cliff and started ascending the steep trail, setting up ropes to climb the rocks.

Francis said the initial plan was to climb the hill from the lake but after about two hours, they 'aborted the plan as the terrain was not conducive for us to climb up'.

The team found the trail too dangerous due to water flowing down, making the rocks even more slippery, and began descending.

Upon being caught on the dead end, Francis says in the video: ‘The dog is still far away from us. He's somewhere around 50 to 40 ft away.

‘It's so risky. The wall we are facing is like this. We've basically crossed everything already.

‘If you're a rock climber, this is what we call a seven-sea wall. Everything is slope, everything is flat, a bit of crack here and there to hold on.'

The group changed plans and went to a construction site on top of the hills and decided to descend to the dog's location from there. They took a truck and arrived in the afternoon.

While in the truck, Francis was heard saying: ‘Now we are going for a second mission. This time from the top. We're not sure if we can be successful or not but we will try everything we can.'

The construction site supervisor also offered to assist the animal lovers and guided them through the forest.

Francis, who has been rescuing animals in his spare time for more than 10 years, added: ‘We had to hike for quite a distance while being guided by the site supervisor and led by fellow rescuer Kevan De Silva, before managing to determine the dog's location.'

After more than eight hours, around 4:30 pm, the team finally found the dog and carried it back to the construction site. It was unhurt and fed by the team.

Francis said: ‘We ended up with scratches on our limbs as some of the vegetation we encountered had sharp thorns but thankfully none of us sustained any serious injuries.'

The pooch was adopted by the workers at the construction site where it stayed after the difficult rescue mission.