A PET dog proved a man's best friend when she saved her master's life by licking him awake as fire swept through his home.

Painter and decorator Graham Schofield was asleep in Avondale Road, Nelson, when choking smoke began to fill the downstairs rooms.

He managed to escape unhurt after the seven-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Lady licked his face and woke him.

"I must have just dropped off to sleep when she started licking me," explained Graham. "I told her to stop but she started doing it again. I was just about to knock her away when I smelled smoke. "If it hadn't have been for Lady I could have been dead. She sleeps in my room but I leave the door open. She could have left me to it but she helped save my life."

Graham tried to phone the fire brigade but the flames had burnt through the wires.

"I managed to get downstairs but even then I got a bit singed," he added.

"I went into the street and banged on three doors but couldn't get an answer.

"In the end I stood in the road, shouting and screaming, until someone woke and phoned the brigade."

The blaze, which broke out around 2am this morning, caused severe damage to the living room and smoke damage to the rest of the house.

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