MAN can claim to be a dog’s best friend thanks to first-aid courses that teach devoted owners how to perform “mouth-to-snout” resuscitation, heart massage and dress wounds on their injured pets.

At least 15 pet first-aid courses are run by veterinary colleges and animal charities around Britain and they are proving increasingly popular with owners.

The courses include advice on how to treat a variety of less serious ailments, such as burns, poisoning, heatstroke and bee-stings.

Like first-aid courses for human patients, some let students work on dummies, substituting the human version for lifelike dogs and cats made of rubber and fake fur.

The popularity of the courses is testament to the growing notion that animals are treated as additional members of the family rather than being seen as just a pet. It may also be, however, that some owners would rather learn to treat minor injuried than pay increasingly expensive vet bills.

“People are more aware about how to treat each other and, as dogs increasingly become part of family, they also want to learn more about caring for their pets,” said Leslie Heaton-Smith, director of the College of Animal Welfare, which runs the monthly courses. Sessions cost £140, last one day and are taught by a vet in Leeds, Edinburgh, Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire and Potters Bar in Hertfordshire. Heaton-Smith added that the college would launch a first-aid DVD at Crufts today.

Owners attending the courses are told to leave their pets at home. Instead, they practise medical techniques on two dummies imported from America: Fluffy the cat and Jerry the dog.

As well as learning to dress wounds and apply splints, the models allow the students to practise more serious first aid, such as blowing into the nostrils and pumping the chest. Without training, someone attempting this might kill their pet or simply blow air into its stomach rather than its lungs.

The courses have been welcomed by vets. However, they warned that owners who thought they would be able to diagnose their pets could end up giving the wrong treatment.

Mark Johnston a vet in Sussex and spokesman for the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, said: “They may try to do things which are not necessary and make things worse. In some cases it is far better to get the animal to the surgery and get them seen to quickly by a vet.”

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