Dogs really ARE a man's best friend: Former soldier's life saved by his pets who licked him awake to call for help after he collapsed with severe internal bleeding

• Billy Malone, 66, banged his head on a radiator and passed out when he was home alone
• But his pet dogs managed to wake him up so he could call for help - by licking his face
• He was rushed to Gwynedd Hospital in Wales where he is recovering from internal bleeding.

An ex-soldier was brought back from the brink of death by his pet dogs.

Billy Malone, 66, collapsed at his home in Llanfairfechan, North Wales, and banged his head on a radiator knocking himself out.

But his pet terrier Rocky and Rhodesian Ridgeback Copa came to the rescue and managed to wake Mr Malone up by licking his face.

+3

Former soldier Billy Malone, 66, is recovering in Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor, Wales, after collapsing and knocking himself out

+3

Man's best friend: Mr Malone's pet terrier Rocky (left) and Rhodesian Ridgeback Copa (right) managed to wake their owner by licking him after he fell unconscious, so he was able to call for help

The Royal Signals veteran, who was alone at the time, managed to call for help and paramedics who arrived on the scene said he probably would not have survived had the dogs not woken him up.

He was suffering from internal bleeding, caused by tearing a vein in his stomach after coughing the previous week.

 Mr Malone, who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, called his wife Kathy who rushed back home.

She said: 'After falling and passing out, Billy remembers the dogs nudgeing him and licking him. He remembers trying to tell them off, but they carried on. Billy started to crawl to the phone in the living room but kept passing out. Thankfully the dogs kept on nudging and licking and bringing him round again.'

Kathy Malone with husband Billy who collapsed after suffering from severe internal bleeding

Billy was taken by ambulance to Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor where he is now recovering.

Mrs Malone said : 'If the dogs hadn’t been here pestering him, he would have died. All the blood had drained and he had swelling the size of a football. He’d had a cough the week before which had torn a vein in his stomach muscle lining.'

She praised Rocky the eleven-year-old terrier and Copa, a Rhodesian ridgeback, who is two, who proved that dogs really are man’s best friend.

Read more