A JACK Russell terrier has been hailed a hero after saving her owners from a house fire.
Gill and Mick Neeve said had it not been for 'Tilly' they may have died from smoke inhalation long before it was realised that the floor joists beneath their bed were on fire.
The dog raised the alarm at 2.30am on Saturday by scratching and digging by a socket in the skirting board beside the bed where the Neeves asleep.
Gill realised that Tilly was causing a commotion when the dog knocked over a pile of books.
"She was agitated and was wincing and scratching at the floor," said Gill.
The startled couple realised that the room was filling with acrid smoke coming in under the skirting boards. There was an electrical buzz coming from beneath the floorboards.
They called the fire brigade who arrived promptly and traced the source of the smoke.
After lifting the floorboards in the bedroom the firefighters discovered the problem – an incinerated mouse that had chewed through the electrical wires that run beneath the bedroom floor.
"The mouse had been electrocuted and was beginning to burn up along with the wooden joists," said Gill
It was a salutary warning for the Alton couple who had been trying to combat a problem of mice that had been coming into the house via piping ducts.
Having other animals, they had been unwilling to use poison and didn't really like the idea of harming the mice, but they hadn't appreciated the sort of problems mice could cause.
By gnawing through the electrical wires, not only had the unfortunate mouse killed itself but could have killed them as well.
"Apparently, there is enough fat in the body of even a small animal to start a fire which, in this case, had spread to the floor joists which were blackened and burned and about to burst into flames," said Gill.
It was only thanks to Tilly's sensitive nose that a major tragedy was averted.
"The fire alarm is on the landing outside the bedroom and it hadn't detected the smoke," said Gill. "We could have been overcome with smoke fumes by the time it went off."
It seems that Tilly's nefarious past may have saved the day. A rescue dog who had been found wandering the streets covered in mud, with facial injuries and a radio tracking collar around her neck, Tilly had spent her former years being forced down holes to locate badgers in their setts so they could be dug out and used in the illegal and cruel practice of badger baiting.
As a result, the terrier has suffered several broken bones and her small body is heavily scarred but she has repaid the Neeves for giving her a new life.
"She may be elderly, have one eye and be stone deaf, but she is the most loving and gentle dog, and she has a fantastic nose," said Gill who, like Mick, is an active member of the Badger Protection Group and understands the kind of lifestyle Tilly would have endured.
Her former training may have paid off. While the Neeves younger dog, Scooby slept through the whole ordeal, the old timer certainly came up trumps.
"Tilly is an absolute heroine – the large vets bills for her eye treatment now seem a small price to pay for what she did that night!" said Gill.
So interested were the firefighters in the cause of the fire that they took photographs of the remains of the mouse and the chewed wires for their records.
"All too often fire crews see the end result of fires that have started in this way, very rarely the beginning," said Gill.
The Neeves have expressed grateful thanks to the firefighters for their swift and professional response to the call out: "We are both very grateful to the Alton firemen for coming to our aid, it was such a relief to see them. We are very lucky in Alton to have our own fire station and a team of such brave, caring and professional fire fighters. As a community we should do all we can to support them - you just never know when you might need their help!"