Lurching from one calamity to another, is this Britain's clumsiest dog?

Chester infuriates his owner by tripping over everything and getting stuck whenever he goes walkies.

The 12-year-old lurcher has broken his tailbone, lost teeth and dislocated his shoulder in countless accidents since being rescued by owner Jim Cockburn four years ago.

Dogged by bad luck: Lurcher Chester is forever getting into scrapes

In his latest scrape, he had to be freed by firemen after chasing a ball into Mr Cockburn's car near his home in Telford, Shropshire - and getting one of his back paws stuck in the boot mechanism.

The former bus driver, 50, said: 'We were just playing with a ball, and after I threw it Chester caught it and hid it in the back of my open car.

'I heard him yowl in agony and saw he had got his paw trapped right in the boot mechanism.

'I just thought, "not again", while Chester just lay there looking at the fireman who was getting him out.

'Chester didn't look that bothered by it all - as if he does it all the time.

All in all he has undergone nine major operations.

Hapless Chester has also:

• Cut his stomach open jumping over a metal fence, requiring life-saving surgery;

• Lost a tooth running into a bench;

• Dislocated a shoulder after falling down a rabbit hole.

• Dislocated Mr Cockburn's knee - the minute they first laid eyes on each other.

His owner said: 'He just ran straight at me full pelt. I shouted at him to stop but he just crashed straight into me and took my legs from under me.

'He just carried on running while I lay there with a dislocated knee.'

Chester has poor eyesight but vets have also diagnosed a cognitive dysfunction similar to Alzheimer's Disease.

Mr Cockburn had been forewarned about his clumsiness: 'The people at the dog home told us he had broken his leg somehow, and had broken his tailbone as well.

'We didn't find out how he did that to himself, but looking at him it's not really a very big surprise.'

He added: 'I do love him and he's a big teddy bear of a dog, but I do panic about him because he'll just stumble all over the place and has no sense of danger.

'He's like a toddler sometimes - he'll fall over and cry, so you'll give him a hug to make him feel better only for him to just get up and do it again.'

He added: 'On one occasion he was just running through a field chasing something when he somehow put his foot down a rabbit hole.

'He's quite a fit dog but he managed to dislocate his shoulder and tore some ligaments too.

'Soon after that he was just running down the street when he ran clean into a park bench and broke one of his front teeth.

'When he's at the top of the stairs he'll see an obstacle in front of him and try to walk around it backwards. Most of the time he'll just end up falling down the stairs.'