'My 11-week old puppy saved my life with phone call that left me baffled'

Catherine Anderson lives alone and normally wears a pendant alarm to alert carers to any issues, and believes her pup saved her life despite the fact it hadn’t received any emotional support training.

She was getting up from sleeping on her living room sofa with 11-week-old Jack Russell Chloe to answer a call when she fell and hit her head on the wall, reports BBC News. Her pendant was in her bedroom.

Catherine, 71, from Wrexham, woke to paramedics around her with Chloe fussing at her feet. It turns out the worldly pup may have pressed the red button to summon help. Hearing barking on the phone along with Ms Anderson's alarm, staff at Delta Wellbeing dispatched NHS paramedics.

Ms Anderson, who suffered a suspected skull fracture, said both her and the paramedics were left wondering "how on earth" they were alerted.

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"The alarm was in the bedroom, I was in the living (room), it was just me and an 11-week-old puppy," she said. "I'm still baffled and scratching my head until this day.”

Doctors told Ms Anderson they would not know how long she would have been lying there or "how bad it would have got" without Chloe. Emotional support dogs usually require training, Ms Anderson said, but as she only had Chloe for two days, she was yet to start.

Ms Anderson said the whole right side of her skull was black with bruising, and doctors wanted her to stay in hospital overnight. But despite her own health, she remained worried about Chloe, who is registered as a support puppy, but was yet to receive her certificate.

"All I could think about was her, to make sure she's OK. But I saw a lovely doctor, who said you can't go home just yet," she said. Ms Anderson spent a night in the hospital but was keen to get home to her doting pup, who she describes as her "shadow".

A keen royalist, Ms Anderson said she could not help but buy the Queen a gold and white brooch shaped as a Jack Russell for her 78th birthday, as well as buying one for herself. Enclosed in the gift, was a letter explaining Chloe's heroic act, along with a series of photos.

Ms Anderson said she was happy knowing the Queen had received the present, and did not expect a response, so was pleasantly surprised when she received a letter which she described as written "like a letter to a friend".

Queen Camilla thanked Ms Anderson for the brooch and called Chloe a "little star", saying she was very lucky to have her, adding she adored her two Jack Russells, Moley and Bluebell.

"It's something I will treasure forever," said Ms Anderson.

Ironically, Ms Anderson had been hesitant to get another dog after recently dealing with the death of her Yorkshire terrier, Maddison, who was just six years old.

But she described it being "love at first night" going to collect Chloe, who despite only having her first vaccination the day prior to the fall and having received no training in being a support dog, saved her life.

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