A college student has praised her "heroic" dog after it saved her from a flat fire. Melody Chen suffers from an undiagnosed condition causing low blood sugar, which caused her to fall asleep after turning her stove on.
But Mia, her service dog, leaped into action to save the day. The German Shepherd licked Melody's face and tugged at her jumper to wake her, before leading her to the back door, past the kitchen, where Melody spotted the flames.
The 19-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, suffers from anxiety and PTSD, plus a heart condition. Mia, who is one, can sense where her heart rate is too low or too high, and alert her so she can sit down safely without fainting, reports StokeonTrentLive.
And now, Mia has been nominated for the finals of the Animal Star Awards, where she is in the running for the assistance dog of the year gong for her lifesaving action. Melody, who is studying animal management and wants to be a vet, said: "I got Mia last year because my health was getting worse. She didn't come for a charity and is owner-trained. I mostly trained her myself with the help of a trainer for guidance.
"She does different things, like jumping up to me, and pawing me, or a nose nudge. She was nominated by someone else for the award. There's an award ceremony in Portsmouth in November. Regardless of whether she wins or not, she's getting recognition."
Melody says she 'doesn't want to think what would have happened' if Mia had not been there when the fire started on Friday, March 24, as her housemate was out at the time.
She said: "The low blood sugar made me feel really tired. I was going to make some breakfast and I put the stove on. Then I went to lie down and forgot to turn it off.
"I woke up to her frantically barking and licking my face, trying to wake me up. I noticed she was tugging on my jumper, pulling me to the back door. I got up and she was still trying to pull me.
"She doesn't normally bark, but she was barking like mad. I don't even know what would have happened if she hadn't woke me up. If she wasn't there I probably wouldn't be here. She has only just turned one in February.
"She's still a baby. She had never seen a fire. The way she reacted to it was really something. I had a German Shepherd before but she wasn't quite there with it.
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"Some dogs don't enjoy being service dogs. Mia being nominated for the award is really exciting. When I got the email, I was like 'oh my God!' - I couldn't believe it.
"She definitely deserves it. She's done so much. She has put so much time in training with me. She's the reason why I can go to college and leave the house.
"At college, she just lies down next to me. Most dogs around one are still like puppies. They have to love doing it."
