A dog owner shared a warning after his pet was left needing emergency surgery when she got a fishing hook stuck in her tongue.
Richard Walker, from Ellesmere Port, was with his family at New Brighton beach yesterday, when they let their dachshunds Minnie and Disney off their leads to have a run around.
A short time later, both dogs came into trouble after coming across fishing hooks left discarded on the sand.
Richard, 35, told the ECHO: "They were playing for five or 10 minutes and then one of the dogs had bit a hook and the fishing hook had gone through her tongue.
"I couldn't get it out and we were panicking because the babies have only just turned one so they are still pups.
"And then while we were tending to one the other dog had ran off down the beach.
"My daughter chased that dog to stay with it and she shouted to me down the beach that [the dog] had hooks in her mouth and I ran down."
The second dog, Disney, had swallowed one fishing hook which was coated in food, while another was stuck on the outside of her mouth.
Richard managed to carefully remove the hook on the outside of Disney's mouth before she was vomited up the second one.
He said: "Then we had to get back to the other dog and sort her out and go to the 24 hour vets just outside of Ellesmere Port."
When they got to the vets, Minnie was sedated to allow staff to remove the fishing hook that was stuck in her tongue.
Thankfully they managed to remove it successfully and she is now recovering at home.
Richard wants to warn other dog owners to look out for fishing hooks when walking their dogs on the beach.
He added: "It was horrendous. It was crazy how fast it all happened."
