DEVOTED dogs Tilly and Coco sounded the alarm when their owner Michelle Aylmer collapsed unconscious in her kitchen in the middle of the night.
The concerned cocker spaniels made such a racket barking that the Stroud hairdresser's husband Jason was woken up from his slumber.
When the carpenter went downstairs to investigate he found his wife lying out cold and bleeding on their kitchen floor.
He managed to bring her round and took her to Stroud General Hospital for treatment.
Now the Farmhill couple have praised Tilly, eight, and 10-month-old Coco for their loyalty.
"I'm so proud of the dogs," said Jason. "Michelle needed four stitches in the back of her head.
"She'd fainted and gone smash, back on to the tiled floor, hitting her head."
Self-confessed workaholic Michelle, who is mum of Harvey, 10, and Rubi, seven, had got up in the night to unload the washing machine.
She banged the funny bone in her elbow on the dog gate across the kitchen door and started to feel faint.
Michelle said: "As I whacked it, it hurt. I put the washing down and stood there holding my arm thinking 'this absolutely kills'.
"I must have fainted. I don't remember what happened after that."
Hospital staff told her the cut was so deep they had to use traditional stitches.
Michelle added: "It gave my body a shock. What the dogs did really made me aware of what sense they have got.
"It is fantastic."
