Man Claims His Dog Saved His Life With Heimlich Maneuver As He Choked On Pickled Onion

A 67-year-old pensioner from East Yorkshire in Britain claims his pet Labrador saved his life by performing the Heimlich maneuver on him as he was choking from a pickled onion lodged in his throat.

Just recently, Alan Spencer was enjoying his dinner consisting of some crispbread with gherkins and pickled onions when he began to choke on one of the pickles.

After three minutes of desperately trying to remove the onion from his throat, Spencer collapsed and said he felt his “life slipping away” as he fell unconscious.

Spencer told reporters that just as he felt he was breathing his last breath, his dog Lexi, an 18-month-old Labrador, leaped onto the center of his back, releasing the onion and forcing Alan to spit it out.

“People will say they are only animals and they don’t know what they were doing, but Lexi is so clever. She is very canny. She saved my life most definitely If it wasn’t for her I honestly don’t think I would be here. Normally I don’t speak like that, but looking back on the whole situation if it wasn’t for her actions I would be dead – lying in that passageway dead.”

Spencer, who is a retired performer, said he was “petrified” when he started to choke on is dinner and even staggered to his front door to try and get some help.

“I felt myself going completely. I felt the life going out of me. I was absolutely petrified. I couldn’t get a breathe in. It had been maybe I guess three or four minutes without a breathe. I felt myself drifting away and I knew that was it and I was blacking out. I had a terrible pain in my chest and head and I was shaking all over – convulsing really. I fell to the floor and I was fighting and fighting for air and to get to the door. The poor dogs didn’t know that was going on. They were going mad.”

As a result of his actions, Alan’s friends have nicknamed Lexi the dog, the “Little Hero” for wittingly, or unwittingly, saving his life.

[Image credit: Metro]