Police were scrambled to a Perthshire guesthouse after the owner’s pet dog dialled 999 the night before he was due to be neutered.
Cocker spaniel Cino called police from his home at Gilmore House in Blairgowrie, before the line went dead.
Owner Jillian Merrouche, who runs the bed and breakfast, said she was surprised and confused when an officer turned up at her door.
The 46-year-old said: “I had gone outside for a walk and had taken the portable house phone with me.
“I’d left it on a window ledge and that’s where Cino must have got it. He’ll pretty much pick anything up and play with it if it’s lying around.
“I’d gone back inside and forgotten about the phone when a policeman arrived at the door. He was asking if everything was all right because they had received a 999 call from the house.
“He said the call had just gone dead. He was asking me if there was anyone else here but I told him it was just me,” Jillian added.
“Then I remembered about how I had left the phone outside and it clicked that Cino must have done it.
“He’s always wrecking stuff but he’s never actually phoned anyone before.
“It was very embarrassing but I hope the police will see the funny side of it. It is good of them that they came out and checked up on us, that everyone was fine.
“It makes you feel a lot safer knowing the police are out there making sure that everything is OK, even when it is just a call in which the line went dead.”
But if the one-year-old spaniel’s call was a last-ditch plea for help, it was in vain.
The operation went ahead as scheduled.