A PET dog called Sonar was today hailed a life-saver after alerting its owners to a fire in their bedroom.

The two-year-old German Shepherd woke his owner Peter Mayoh, aged 48, about half an hour after he went to bed on Saturday night.

The fire at Greenfold Lane, Westhoughton, started just after midnight when a faulty electric blanket caught fire. Mr Mayoh was woken by the dog head-butting him and noticed flames coming from under the bed.

Mr Mayoh, a heavy goods vehicle driver, got his wife Joan and his two dogs out of the house immediately.

He said: "When I woke up I thought 'who on earth is lighting a bonfire at this time?' Then I realised it was the bed. A couple of minutes later and we could all have been burnt."

Mrs Mayoh, also 48, added: "We call him Sonar because he is blind in one eye and has to rely on his hearing, but it was his nose that saved us all."

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