Cocker spaniel masters first aid as part of his repertoire of tricks 

He brings a whole new meaning to the term rescue dog. Cocker spaniel Leo has learned how to perform life-saving CPR by jumping up and down on a resuscitation dummy’s chest with his paws.

He even checks for breathing by put-ting his nose next to the dummy’s lips.

The two-year-old was taught the skill for an international dog trick contest, which he has now won six times.

Owner Emily Anderson, 30, teaches Leo a new trick every week.

The trainer, from Aberdeen, said: ‘He jumps up and down when I say ‘up’ and checks for breathing when I say ‘nose’.

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Cocker spaniel Leo has learned how to perform life-saving CPR by jumping up and down on a resuscitation dummy’s chest with his paws

‘The things he does constantly surprise me because I don’t think they’re possible and he masters them in 20 minutes.’

A video of Leo doing his impressive life-saving act on a mannequin has been circulating on social media and attracting praise from dog lovers.

Miss Anderson added: ‘I taught him to check for breath using a target stick on the mouth of the dummy until he learnt where he needed to keep his nose.

‘Leo weighs 17kg which is a bit too heavy to have him jumping on me.

‘Every day he totally amazes me. He’s a real dog in a million, I’ll never have another Leo.’

Miss Anderson said she has been training him from the age of eight weeks.

A video of Leo doing his impressive life-saving act on a mannequin has been circulating on social media and attracting praise from dog lovers

She now teaches him a new trick every week and makes them slightly more difficult each time.

She said: ‘For stacking the rings I started by teaching him to hold objects in his mouth, then dropping them into a washing basket.

‘Gradually his target became smaller and eventually I got him to drop the rings onto the stack while I was holding it.

‘It took about a month in total from start to end.

‘Some of them are using similar skills but using them on different objects. Leo is so incredibly happy when he’s training.

‘He’ll fall asleep watching TV afterwards but ends up waking himself up by wagging his tail so much.’

Miss Anderson increased Leo’s training after he almost died in March 2020 when he contracted an infection caused by a giardia parasite.

‘He wasn’t like the happy dog he was before and I knew I had to do something to help him out of his slump,’ she said.

‘I knew he’d always enjoyed his training so I decided to focus on doing a bit more of that with him and that’s how the tricks started.’