A dog with only three legs has rescued a newborn baby that was buried alive – reportedly by its teenage mother.

Ping Pong is being hailed a hero in Thailand for saving the child whose 15-year-old mother was believed to have been hiding her pregnancy from her parents.

The dog was barking and scratching at dirt by a field, alerting his owner, who then found an infant’s leg sticking up.

Locals rushed the 5.2lb baby to hospital, where doctors cleaned him up and declared he was healthy.

Police said they had arrested the mother and charged her with child abandonment and attempted murder.

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The girl’s parents have offered to raise the baby although authorities have not yet decided whether to allow that.

Lt Col Panuwat Puttakam, of Chum Phuang police station, told the Bangkok Post that although the girl was underage, police were bound by law to charge her and she would be interrogated in the presence of child service workers.

“The girl is now in the care of a psychologist and her parents because she is in great fear. She regrets what she did and said she acted on impulse without thinking it through. She feared her parents would find out she had been pregnant,” the officer said.

The teenager will also be assessed for her mental health.

“Police officers are preparing to prosecute the mother but she is also a child and we must consider her mind and be professional. It is important that she is nurtured and treated fairly,” said Wichian Chantharanothai, governor of the Nakhon Ratchasima area.

He said the baby survived because he was buried only shallowly.

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Ping Pong’s owner, Usa Nisaikha, said the dog lost the use of a leg when it was hit by a car.