A YOUNG dog came to the rescue when her owner’s mother collapsed and fell unconscious.

Melanie Wright, whose family have run Fox’s Butchers in Malton for generations, leaves her two-year-old dog Bella at the home of her parents, Derek and Gloria Fox, during the day.

Now retired, the couple live in Malton while Melanie and her brother Shaun run the shop.

Derek said: “Gloria has been suffering from dizzy spells for a while and are quite distressing as she can suddenly lose consciousness.

“On this particular day Gloria was sat in the conservatory and had gone into the kitchen while I was watching television in the front room.

“Suddenly Bella came running in and starting barking at me,” he said.

“I told her to go away so she ran back into the kitchen and then came back again barking like mad at me.”

Derek said he thought it was strange so went into the kitchen where Gloria was lying on the floor.

“Fortunately she was soon okay, but it was so lucky that Bella had alerted me,” he said. “You hear about these things with animals, but you just don’t expect it.”

Derek said Bella was a wonderful little dog who got on with their cat, Stripey, “like a house on fire”.

“We are grateful to have her, it was a marvellous thing to do,” he said.

Melanie said she was so proud of Bella, who is a Lhasa Apso.

“It was an amazing thing to do, barking and running away backwards and forwards between my mum and dad until he knew something was wrong,” she said. “I’m really proud of Bella for doing this. It makes me feel at ease leaving her at their house while I am at work.”