A tiny puppy survived a 30-minute cycle in the tumble drier on the highest heat setting – after being innocently shut in there by a toddler.
Little Sienna Edwards, two, was playing with her pet Penny when she popped the Boston Terrier into the drum as part of a game.
Her mum Christine, 31, had no idea the three-month-old pup was inside and her eldest daughter Megan, 14, turned on the dryer which was filled with damp clothes.
But half an hour later the mum-of-three was horrified when she realised tiny Penny was missing.
She yanked open the tumble dryer door and found the baking hot dog amongst the sheets, and rushed him up to the bath where she held the limp pup under the cold tap.
Panicked Christine bundled her into the car and drove straight to the vets where experts hooked him up to a drip and told devastated Christine to prepare for the worst.
But miraculously the pooch escaped with just a burnt tummy, mouth and eye, and after a two-day stay at the vets was back to her normal happy self.
Amazed Christine, from Utkinton, Cheshire, said: “She really is a lucky Penny now – an absolute miracle.
“When I took her in the vets told me to prepare for the worst and she really was on death’s door.”
“I really did think she would die as she had been in there for at least 30 minutes, and was just limp in my arms.
“But amazingly after two days when I went to collect her she was running around fine.
“She’s sat next to me 100 per cent recovered and we just can’t believe it.”
Stay-at-home mum Christine only welcomed Penny into her home three or four weeks ago and had spent the day running errands before the accident on Friday.
Daughters Paislie, nine, and Megan returned home from school and Christine assumed the tired dog was having a nap in her cage in the kitchen or lounging in the garden.
But unfortunately she was scooped up by youngest Sienna, who popped her in the machine which is kept in the shed and shut the door.
Sister Megan, who was helping her mum out with the laundry, then turned on the machine’s spin cycle at the highest heat setting.
Christine soon started to worry about little Penny and after a quick search of the house decided to check the tumble dryer.
“I had a bad feeling so went to check the kitchen and she was not in her crate so I looked in the garden and she wasn’t there either,” said Christine.
“I heard tumble dryer going I had an instinct she was in there so I opened it up.
“I found her limp and panting with her tongue hanging out and feeling hot.”
“I ran upstairs with her and put her under the cold tap.
“She was just flopping and on death’s door.”
They rushed to Birch Heath Veterinary Clinic in Tarporley where vets hooked the pooch up to a drip and administered medicines to bring down her temperature.
Animal medics filled two rubber gloves with water to hold next to the dog in a bid to stabilise her temperature.
She was taken to Chester Gates Referral Hospital for expert attention where she remained for two days.
But miraculously when a nervous Christine turned up to pick her up, she was back to her normal self.
“The nurses couldn’t believe it,” said Christine, who has a partner Rob Ball, 31, a commercial buyer.
“She really is a miracle. I won’t let her leave my side now.”
