A DOG lover has moved heaven and earth to free a beloved family pooch trapped under 45 tonnes of rock for a week.

Jessie, a four-year-old Jack Russell, became wedged under two huge boulders while chasing a feral cat at Mt Beckworth, near Ballarat.

Owner Steve Porter, who spent more than $2000 on the rescue, had been rabbit hunting. It took a hydraulic ram capable of moving 95 tonnes and 100 hours of digging to free an increasingly distressed Jessie about 9pm on Friday.

The dog, who survived on liver fed to her 3.5m underground by a piece of fencing wire, could move only her head and front paw.

"When we pulled her out and unhooked her she just jumped up the top to where I was and jumped straight into my lap," Mr Porter said.

"It's a miracle, really, when you see the size of the rock and the location and how restricted we were."

Mr Porter and his son Tom initially tried jacks and crowbars with the help of friends Dave Evans and Ben Richards.

They then called the SES, which could move only the smallest boulder before the massive ram was hired from Melbourne to move the bigger 30-tonne rock.

The men toiled as late as 1am through bitterly cold nights.

"We literally moved this massive rock millimetre by millimetre," Mr Porter said.

Lying flat, he pulled Jessie free from her crevice using a dog-catching hoop. "It was quite emotional," he said.

"I think we all just jumped in the air and said: 'Thank God'."

Mr Porter, whose eldest son is a vet, said he had considered putting Jessie down as hope faded but couldn't without trying everything possible.

"Dogs are man's best friend," he said. "We felt we owed it to her. The easiest thing to say was the dog would die or we could say let's give her a good hard go. And we did. We rallied together and we said 'We can do this'. Where there's hope there is life."

Eastwood Vets' Dr Ruth Gore said although dehydrated and muddy, Jessie had survived the incident relatively unscathed.

The tidbits of meat and cooler weather were key factors in the dog's amazing survival.

"Jack Russells are tough little dogs," she said.

For more on the dog owner who moved 45 tonnes of rock to rescue his trapped Jack Russell go to the Herald Sun.