SHE is the canine hero that came to her owner’s rescue when she needed her the most.

Joy Smith believes dog Skye may have saved her life by getting help in the nick of time after she suffered a severe seizure.

The 49-year-old, who has been living with a benign brain tumour since being diagnosed in 2010, was found struggling to breathe while her lips had turned blue until the loyal staffie cross raised the alarm.

Although Joy has had a minor seizure before, that was in public.

This time the mother-of-two, of Fareham, remembers nothing of what happened or how long the seizure lasted, but only coming round face down on the floor to find four-year-old Skye licking her face and, she believes, trying to revive her.

Joy told how her daughter Emma Ashton was upstairs preparing for work that afternoon, unaware of her mother’s plight as she lay in the hallway of their home in Leigh Road.

Husband Richard, 49, a fitter and welder, and her son Robert Ashton, 25, were out at work and Joy, who was still shaking, was unable to communicate as she had virtually lost her voice.

Instinctively knowing something was wrong, Skye ran upstairs crying and running around in circles, forcing Emma, 22, who is her part-time carer, to come downstairs thinking she wanted to go outside.

She found her mother, who was then raced to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth where she was kept in overnight.

Though it was suspected Joy, who formerly worked in Fareham College’s faculty office, had had a stroke it was actually a seizure brought on by her condition.

Daily Echo:

Joy Smith, right, with daughter Emma Ashton and four-year-old staffie cross Skye

“My daughter would’ve come down in 10 minutes, but you never know what could have happened in those 10 minutes,” said Joy.

“I think Skye may have saved my life. She definitely knew I was in trouble.

“Staffies get a bad name, but she’s so protective. She’s a hero.

“She’s been a bit spoilt with a new ball, new toy, new bone.”

Emma added: “I think what Skye did was amazing. My mother was rocking and shaking a lot but Skye didn’t leave her side.”

Skye’s protectiveness is all the more remarkable as she has only been with the family since they picked her up from Fareham’s Stubbington Ark Animal Shelter last October as a companion for Joy, who is recovering from her ordeal.