A HEROIC dog has been praised by its owner for saving the life of a man who was lying unconscious in a front garden.

Three-year-old German Shepherd Kimber, who attends a weekly dog obedience class in Daws Hill, Chingford, raised the alarm, Lassie-like, after she discovered the injured man.

She had broken away from owner Christine Cox during an evening walk.

A proud Christine said: "I regularly take Kimber to the Hornbeam dog training classes and on this evening I was trying one of the obedience routines in which she walks off the lead.

"But then, all of a sudden Kimber ran off into a garden and at first I just thought she was misbehaving.

"I kept calling her but she just laid there whining and wouldn't come back. When I went over to look I thought it was just a rubbish bag she was trying to get at because it was so dark.

"I called her again but still she wouldn't come back, so I went into the garden to get her and it was only then that I realised it was a man.

"He was unconscious but still had a pulse, I put him into the recovery position and called the emergency services."

The man has since made a full recovery, although police are still unclear if he was attacked or collapsed.

But the grateful man told Mrs Cox that he did not know where he would be if it wasn't for Kimber, saying that the clever canine probably saved his life.

Christine, of Marle Gardens in nearby Waltham Abbey, added: "Kimber seems to be making a habit of this kind of thing, because she alerted us to a car crash when she was just six months old.

"She had obviously heard something and kept barking until we went outside to discover a man trapped in a car.

"She is a very clever dog and her attitude towards other animals has improved tremendously since going to the obedience classes. She is a special dog."