Woman 'owes dog life' for sniffing out cancer while resting head on her stomach

A woman has said she owes her dog her life after she sniffed out her ovarian cancer while resting its head on her stomach.

Stephanie Herfel, 52, began noticing changes in her husky Sierra's behaviour when she started pushing her nose into her tummy while laying on her lap.

At first, Stephanie brushed Sierra's behaviour off as her playing - but claimed it began happening multiple times.

On another occasion, Stephanie, from Wisconsin, America, found the husky curled up at the back of her closet appearing to be upset - weeks before she was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer.

Stephanie said: "First she came up and put her nose on my belly, which I dismissed. She did this multiple times.

Stephanie Herfel was experiencing discomfort in her abdomen when husky Sierra started acting oddly (Facebook)

"Then (She was) curled up in a little ball with her nose under her tail. Her little face was completely wet and her eyebrows were crunched.

"(I was) just going through my head, 'Sierra was telling me. Sierra was telling me."

"If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here today. I owe her my life."

Stephanie with her life-saving dog Sierra (Facebook)

At the same time as changes began in Sierra's behaviour, Stephanie had felt a few pangs of main in her abdomen.

Starting to think her dog might be trying to tell her someone, Stephanie visited the doctors for a check-up, report abc7.

She was then diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer.

After six months of treatment, Stephanie went into remission - but sadly relapsed three more times - with the disease spreading to her liver and pelvis.

Stephanie says Sierra picked up on her cancer four times (Facebook)

She said every time the cancer returned, Sierra was able to detect it and warn her something wasn't right.

Stephanie's oncologist Dr. David Kushner said he didn't once think Stephanie was "crazy" for revealing her dog had warned her about the cancer.

Mrs Herfel made an appointment to see a gynaecologist when her Siberian Husky Sierra sniffed at her lower abdomen (Facebook)

He added: "It's probably your dog was picking up that you weren't feeling okay."

Stephanie is now cancer free - but takes a daily dose of chemotherapy tablets as part of a clinical trial to reduce the risk it may come back.

Now, when she returns home from a check-up at The University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Mrs Herfel is forced to change her clothes due to Sierra becoming anxious by the 'cancer smell'.