Springer spaniel saved choking owner by accidentally performing Heimlich manoeuvre

A Springer Spaniel has been hailed a hero after saving her owner from choking on a sweet. Rachel Hayes thought she was going to die after a strawberry pastille went down the wrong way as she sat in her kitchen. But as she gasped for air, her faithful springer spaniel sprung into action and accidentally performed the Heimlich manoeuvre . “She’s an absolute hero,” she said. “It happened when I sat down to have a sweet.”

“But then it got stuck in the back of my throat and I couldn’t get it back up,” she said. Rachel, who lives alone with Mollypops in Drefach Felindre, near Llandysul, Carmarthenshire, wales was unable to call out. “It must have gone down the wrong way,” she said. “I couldn’t phone anyone because I couldn’t talk. I was having difficulty breathing and was doing my best to get it out. But Mollypops’ sixth sense, or doggy sense, kicked in and she knew I was in trouble.”



Mollypops then showed off her secret paramedic skills. “She was insistently trying to help me and I kept pushing her away,” Rachel said. “But she kept coming around me because she could see I was trying to get something from my throat. But I kept pushing her away because I couldn’t really breathe.” Rachel ran into the toilet to try to cough up the candy. “Then Mollypops came up behind me put her paws on me and bashed on my back with such a force that the sweet came out,” Rachel said.

“This went on for a few minutes – I can’t say for sure how long. I was just glad I could breathe. I just burst out crying and said, ‘I love you.’ She came over for a cuddle and I cuddled her. I told her she was a hero.” Mollypops was baffled. “I don’t know what she made of it,” Rachel said. “I think she’s glad to have me alive otherwise she would have been left all on her own. But I don’t think she knows quite what she has done. I gave Mollypops lots of cuddles and as a thank you I bought her a squeaky chicken.”

With photo gallery and video.