A dopey dog who was choking after swallowing a stone was saved when his quick-thinking owner checked their doorbell camera to see what happened.
Claire Roy got worried when Cody started coughing in their front garden.
The married mum-of-three checked their camera footage on her phone to see why their Collie puppy was doing it.
She was horrified to see he had swallowed a huge stone.
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Claire tried a Heimlich manoeuvre on their one-year-old pooch but to no avail.
So she called pet emergency service Vets Now for help.
Claire then rushed Cody to be seen while her husband David looked after their three kids
But she was able to tell vet Sasha Burns Fraser what had happened and she was able to remove the stone using forceps.
If she hadn’t checked the doorbell footage, Cody may have died because the 3cm long stone was hidden in his throat.
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Claire, of Newtownards, Co Down, Northern Ireland said: “It was only a 20-minute journey, but it felt like the fastest and at the same time slowest drive I’ve ever done.
“Every minute felt like an eternity.”
“It was beyond terrifying.
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“I really thought my dog was going to die.
“When we got to Vets Now in Belfast, we burst through the door and I practically threw Cody at the poor receptionist, who immediately rushed him straight through to the vet team.”
Principal vet Sasha said: “If it hadn’t been for the doorbell footage, we might initially have thought that it was just a case of kennel cough, which was doing the rounds and can result in a really rasping cough.
“But because Claire had had the presence of mind to check the camera, we knew he’d definitely swallowed the stone and it was just a question of finding it.
“So, we began looking down his throat after sedation kicked in and there it was to my astonishment hidden in his vocal cords – and leaving just the tiniest, tiniest airway for him to breathe.
“It was a life-threatening situation, and I was actually amazed that he hadn’t gone blue from lack of oxygen given how little air was getting through.”
“Every second is really critical in a case like this, so I got the team to hold Cody with his mouth pointing down.
“Then I got a very long pair of forceps to reach down into the larynx and very carefully prised out the stone from where it was wedged.”
“This really must be one of the first ever cases of a dog’s life being saved by a doorbell camera.
“Because without that footage we might not have known about the stone until it was too late.”
Cody has made a full recovery.
Claire added: “He’s such a buoyant character, it didn’t take him long to bounce back.
“In fact, when he got home, he wanted to go back out to play with the stones again.”
“He is the funniest, dopiest dog. We’ve got chickens in our back garden, and he’s actually scared of them, when it should be the other way round.”
“Cody’s a really big part of our family and I couldn’t imagine life in the house without him.
“And I have to say: that doorbell camera really has been worth its weight in gold.”
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