Dad woke up to puppy eating his big toe but he ‘loves him more than ever’

A dog potentially saved his owner’s life by chewing his right big toe ‘to the bone’ as he slept.

David Lindsay was napping on the sofa at his home in Cambridge when he was awoken by his wife’s screams.

Looking down, the retired builder saw his foot covered in blood and his toe nail left hanging off.

His seven-month-old puppy Harley had mauled the bone for such a long time it was fractured.

The 64-year-old was rushed to hospital where doctors found he had lost feeling in both his legs due to two blocked arteries in his legs.

David, who suffers from diabetes, has no plans of getting rid of the bulldog after he inadvertently saved his life.

The dad to five daughters and grandfather to 11 children said: ‘I was asleep on the couch when my wife walked in and shouted, “Dave, the puppy’s chewing your toe”.

‘My puppy had near enough chewed my big toe off. It chewed down to the bone and cracked it.

‘But because of all this, I discovered that my foot is completely numb, I can’t feel anything.’

David remains in hospital where has been put on intravenous antibiotics to stop the infection, caused by the dog bite, from spreading to his bone.

The blockages in his arteries could have resulted in his entire leg needing to be amputated.

Thanks to his pup, David is now being assessed for stents, which would open up the arteries and allow the blood flow to return to his leg.

‘You have got to laugh about it. He has done me a favour by chewing my toe,’ he said.

‘So I’m waiting to find out if they can put stents in. I’ll be keeping the dog. I’ll try to keep my toe too, but if not I told the doctor to cut it off and I can take it home for him.’

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