A dog that was rescued from an abusive owner has been hailed a hero after saving a young girl’s life.

Peanut, arrived at the Delta Animal Shelter in Escanaba, Michigan with two broken legs and cracked ribs, last year.

After she was nursed back to health, she was taken in by a new owner, who has now credited the dog with becoming a saviour herself.

Writing on the shelter's Facebook site, Peanut's owner said her uncanny “sixth sense” kicked in last week and she started “crazily” barking.

“She was running up and down the stairs, barking and yelping,” the message read. “She then went and got my husband, who was in the garage working on some projects, and alerted him that she wanted to go outside.

“He said he could hear her running around upstairs but didn’t understand why. He let her outside where she went barrelling into the field behind our house at full speed.

“My husband followed her and to his surprise, he found a naked, shivering, three-year-old girl curled up in a ball. He scooped her up, wrapped her in his sweatshirt, and brought her inside.

“He called 911 and reported the incident. By the time the ambulance and police arrived, the little girl could only say one thing – ‘doggie’.”

Delta County Sheriff's confirmed the story in a statement on their own Facebook site, saying the girl was found “lying naked in a ditch” in freezing conditions.

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“A citizen was alerted to the child's presence by his dog,” it read. “The citizen then located the girl and wrapped her in his shirt and rushed her back to his residence in attempt to warm the child.”

The girl was taken to hospital and officers eventually found the parents living nearby in “unsafe” and “unsanitary” living conditions.

Delta Animal Shelter said in a statement: “Through all of this sad news, give thanks the children are safe. The good in this heartbreaking story is the heroism of this former abused shelter dog Peanut, and her wonderful adoptive family.”