Chewie the rescue dog saved his owner’s life by giving him CPR when he had a heart attack

dailystar.co.uk:

rescue dog turned “Vinnie Bones” to save his owner’s life by giving him CPR.The five-year-old pooch jumped up and down on Ray Whiteley’s chest to restart his ticker just as Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones taught in his life-saving TV ad for the British Heart Foundation.Chewie followed the tough guy actor’s `push hard and fast on the sovereign’ advice after finding Ray slumped on the sofa at home following a heart attack.First the Yorkie-Doberman cross started barking to alert Ray’s wife Loretta who was in the garden.Then he started leaping up and down on her lifeless husband’s chest.Stunned Loretta, 56, walked in to find the hero hound battling to save Ray’s life.To her astonishment Chewie’s efforts paid off and her husband started to breathe again.Without his pet’s efforts Ray would almost certainly have died as it took an ambulance an agonising eight-and-a-half minutes to reach the couple’s home in Leyland, Lancashire.

Chewie is one of five finalists up for the Hero Dog Award at Crufts in March.Loretta said he had developed a particularly close bond with the couple after a brush with death himself.He was found with the rest of his litter half buried in a bag with their paws and mouths taped up at 12-weeks-old.The Whiteleys offered him a new forever home and - both trained first aiders - taught him and their other pets to do CPR as a `bit of fun’ never imagining how vital it would prove.Ray, who has multiple sclerosis, frequently suffers with pneumonia which triggered a cardiac arrest.Loretta said: “Ray had stopped breathing but Chewie would not give up on him.