Dogs alert man to choking neighbor

BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- An elderly Canadian woman in Nova Scotia says she owes her life to her neighbor's dogs who alerted their owner she was choking on her backyard deck.

Gert Mombourquette, 76, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. she was alone late Saturday night eating some homemade chocolate squares when she choked and couldn't breathe or make a sound.

Her neighbor Kevin Murphy, a sergeant with the Halifax Regional Police, was using his break to return home to walk his two dogs as the woman was choking.

The dogs, Jenny and Mandy, resisted going for a walk and were barking and whining, so Murphy checked Mombourquette's door, found it open and walked in, the report said.

"He opened the door and Jenny ... she was going around in circles and licking my legs," the woman said. "She knew I was in trouble. They sense it, they really do."

Murphy successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver and called paramedics.

Mombourquette told the CBC she'll still make chocolate squares for Murphy and his dogs, but will give up eating them.