Trainee hearing puppy saves trainer's life

A trainee hearing dog saved his trainer's life with his "quick actions" when she suffered a heart attack.

Watson, a 15-month-old cocker spaniel is being taught by Jeannette Godsell, 58, from Southampton, who began feeling unwell after a training session.

Watson began nudging Ms Godsell, a volunteer for Hearing Dogs for deaf people, before barking the get the attention of a neighbour.

She said: It might sound dramatic, but he literally saved my life. I want the world to know how amazing he is."

Ms Godsell had returned home from Totton railway station where Watson had been learning how to settle on a train journey and recalled sitting on the sofa feeling unwell.

"Watson is usually a really chilled dog", she explained, "so I couldn't understand why he wouldn't stop nudging me" which he was trained to do in an emergency.

She said: "I tried to go upstairs and lie down, but he blocked the stairs by standing in front of them. In the end, I gave up and sat back down on the sofa."

Watson went into the garden and started barking persistently, something she said is "completely out of character for him" but "it got my neighbour, Sue's, attention".

"Sue knew that Watson didn't usually bark, so came round to investigate, she told me I didn't look well and, despite me protesting that it was just indigestion, she called an ambulance."

Paramedics arrived and confirmed she was having a heart attack before she was taken to hospital for emergency surgery to have a stent fitted.

Ms Godsell said: "The doctors told me that there is a golden hour when you have a heart attack and that, if I had got to hospital half an hour later, there could've been a very different outcome.

"It's terrifying to think what would've happened if Watson hadn't stopped me from going upstairs, where I would've been alone."

Watson will soon be matched with a deaf partner for the next stage of his training.

Ms Godsell said: "He'll always have a piece of my heart - the heart he helped protect."

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