Service dogs have been specially trained to protect their owners at all costs - and it seems this extends to strangers too.
A heroic dog has been praised for saving a person's life after alerting his deaf owner to a man stuck in mud.
Owner John was walking his cockapoo Edgar through passing a closed pedestrian bridge when the dog refused to move and started barking.
The hearing dog led John to a man trapped in a foot of dark, slimy mud in a brook near the bridge.
John said: “Without Edgar raising the alarm and leading me back, I would have walked home hearing nothing.
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“Thankfully, the man was unhurt, although covered in mud, but it was a bitterly cold day.
John was then able to save the man, pulling him out with Edgar’s lead.
The man had been climbing along the edge of the closed bridge when he slipped and fell into the brook.
He was left helpless in the mud and could not claw his way out.
The cold could have left him extremely vulnerabl e had he not been rescued.
John added: “Edgar was remarkable that day and I am immensely proud of him.
“I also have extra respect for hearing dogs and added confidence knowing that Edgar recognises an emergency and would call the alarm if ever I needed it.
“He certainly has made such a difference to my life since he joined me two years ago.”
The bridge, in Putney, south-west London, has been closed since last July after engineers realised the decaying and broken timber needed to be replaced.
The cost to repair and open the bridge could cost up to £15,000, with the charity responsible raising more than £1,600 to cover this in the last two months.
It comes after Crufts crowned its Hero Dog for 2022 with suicide prevention dogs taking home the prestigious title.
Paramedic Pete Lewin, from Leicestershire, runs a non-profit organisation working with Newfoundland dogs - Storm, Sonar, Bob and Walker - providing water therapy for suicide prevention.
His team provide front-line emergency services and military veterans with support, and help those struggling with their mental health.
Pete said: "These dogs really are life-saver. One guy came to us after he took an overdose. Before swimming with the dogs, he was suicidal, and now he works for the ambulance service.
"Whatever it is that the dogs have got, it is helping people."
Do you have a dog story to sell? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
