BILL Smith feared the worst when his guide dog passed out in the street and was diagnosed with heart trouble.
Now 10-year-old Ely is fighting fit again after becoming the first guide dog in the country to be fitted with a pacemaker.
The black Labrador, who has been Bill's eyes for the best part of a decade, was given just months to live after his local vet found a valve in his heart was pumping irregularly.
But owner Bill, 60, from Kent Road in Formby, says his constant companion is now "good as new".
The pacemaker is about the size of a box of matches and is the same as those fitted to humans. It provides a tiny electrical charge to stimulate the muscles of the heart and keep it beating.
The 40-minute operation was carried out at the Woodcroft Veterinary Hospital in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.
Simon Swift, the veterinary cardiologist who performed the life saving surgery, said: "This is not the first dog I have fitted a pacemaker for, but it is the first guide dog ever to have one."
Around 30 to 40 dogs have pacemakers fitted each year, but only a few vets' clinics in the country are equipped to carry out the surgery. The only other one in the north west is Liverpool University's veterinary school.
The operation was paid for by the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity. It usually costs up to £2,500 but was done at a discount at £1,400.
It is much cheaper than buying a new guide dog, which usually costs £35,000 to train and support for life.
Bill has relied on guide dogs to get around for most of his life.
He lost one eye when he was hit by a piece of glass at age five, and lost almost all his remaining sight when a blood clot lodged in his other eye after a heart attack 20 years ago.
Last night the married father-of-three said: "Normally guide dogs retire at 10, but Ely's got a new lease of life since having the pacemaker. He's like a spring chicken."
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