David Lindsay, 64, was startled by his wife's scream as he lay asleep on a sofa at their home only to find his right big toe was covered in blood.

The bone in his toe had been fractured by his seven-month-old bulldog puppy Harley as he slept and his toenail left hanging off. However, the horror incident turned out to be a lifesaver as medics later discovered he had lost the feeling in his feet due to two blocked arteries in his legs. David, a father to five daughters and grandfather to 11 children, now has no plans on getting rid of the naughty pup after it inadvertently saved his life.

David, who suffers from diabetes, said: "I was asleep on the couch when my wife walked in and shouted, 'Dave, the puppy's chewing your toe!' My puppy had near enough chewed my big toe off!

"It chewed down to the bone and cracked it. But because of all this, I discovered that my foot is completely numb, I can't feel anything."

His wife wrapped up his toe and rushed him to hospital, where he's been for nine days. David has been put on intravenous antibiotics to stop the infection, caused by the dog bite, from spreading to his bone.

But only because of the severe mauling his toe endured David discovered he couldn't feel his foot. During CT scans for the fractured toe the doctors discovered not one, but two, blocked arteries.

The blockages could put his whole leg in danger of needing amputation if the blood supply wasn't returned.