‘Wonder dog Louie stopped my baby girl choking to death’
A PET dog saved a tot from choking to death in her sleep.
Little Chloe Showell began inhaling her own vomit after falling ill in her bedroom.
But Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Louie raised the alarm by barking and running around the flat to alert Chloe’s mum, Shannon Weeks.
Shannon found the toddler face down and pale as hero hound Louie whimpered outside her bedroom.
Louie’s owner, Shannon’s nan Maureen Tarrant, had only by chance brought her dog round to visit that day.
Shannon said: “All I could do was scream. She was really pale and her lips were light blue. It was the worst night of my life.”
She added: “Louie is my hero. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughter.”
Chloe started choking after falling sick just before 11pm.
But when Shannon heard Louie as he tried to raise the alarm, she assumed he was barking at someone walking past the flat.
Instead, she found the loyal pooch outside Chloe’s room.
Shannon said: “He just kept barking and barking.
“He hardly ever does that so I didn’t know what to think. He was running in and out of the rooms and going back to Chloe.
“I said to my nan, ‘There is something wrong’.
“I went out and saw him outside my daughter’s room. It was the worst thing you can imagine. Every parent’s nightmare.
“I went in and Chloe was face down and pale and wasn’t breathing. She had vomited and choked on her own sick.
“I picked her up and patted her back and she came round and threw up again. She’s not a very sickly baby so it came as a huge shock.”
Chloe soon started to recover when she was in her mum’s arms.
The toddler’s dad Tom, 24, rushed her to hospital, where doctors said four-year-old Louie had saved her life.
Medics told them Chloe had bronchitis and a stomach bug, but she has since made a full recovery.
Shannon, 23, added: “The doctors said if it hadn’t been for Louie, and I hadn’t got there when I did, Chloe may not have survived. I was always nervous about dogs around babies before, especially after a dog attack in the area.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with the breed, I think it’s about the owner.
“Louie is so loyal though, he’d never hurt a fly. After what happened I did go and get him some treats,” added Shannon, from Dartford, Kent.
“Louie’s my hero. Normally he is not there, but he really did save her.
“She was terrified of him – but now they’re inseparable.”