A dog owner has described the dramatic moment he brought his Alsatian back to life after it suffered a heart attack in the snow.
Colin MacLean performed chest compressions on four-year-old pet Zak after he “died” during a walk at Stornoway Golf Course.
The self-employed builder said: “I took him out to the golf course in the castle grounds on Friday morning. The place was thick with snow. He had never been in snow before. We haven’t had that much snow for years.
“He came out of the van and on to the golf course and just went mental. He was running about in it, rolling in it, even eating it.
“I went to take a video of him and when I looked up he was lying stretched out. I walked over to him. He had peed in the snow, his tongue was hanging out and there was no movement in his eyes.
“When I went to feel his chest I couldn’t feel anything. I tapped him on the eye and he didn’t flinch. I knew he was dead.
“I started compressions on his chest and after a few minutes I got a faint heartbeat. His chest started moving so I ran down, got my van, ran back, picked him up and carried him off the golf course, which was no mean feat, and drove him to Hector Low the vet.”
Zak was still unconscious as Mr MacLean, 52, and Mr Low carried him into the surgery. The dog received an adrenaline shot and started coming round. He was able to return home later that evening.
Mr MacLean said: “It was a heart attack. Hector said it was basically a shock to the system. Going from a warm house, then a warm van, before running around in the snow, one temperature extreme to another. He overdid it.
“He said it would be no different to me jumping into the harbour. Hector did a good job on him.”
He added the dog might not have been so lucky had he not undergone first aid training last year.
He said: “I was doing a job for a local filling station. Paramedic Roddy MacDonald was training the staff to use a defibrillator and he talked me into joining the course.
“If I didn’t do that I would not have been able to do that to the dog. A heart is a heart whether it’s a dog heart or a human heart.”