Winnie the border collie was heavily pregnant when she chased a rabbit under a harvesting machine on the family farm and was run over by its 4ft-wide rear wheel.

Josh Sibley feared Winnie - and her puppies - were dead but she survived because the impact pinned her down into the muddy soft ground.

She escaped with two popped lungs and a fractured pelvis. Incredibly, a scan at the time revealed all of her puppies had been unharmed in the ordeal.

There were then concerns that Winnie wouldn't be able to give birth naturally because of her injuries but she recovered in time to deliver the six puppies Winnie is now rearing her thriving pups.

Mr Sibley, 22, from Beaminster, Dorset plans to keep one of the females and will train her to help him and Winnie on the farm and the other five will be sold.

He said: "All the puppies are absolutely fine and have nothing wrong with them, which seems crazy when you think about what Winnie went through.

"It's amazing they are here at all. Winnie is a miracle mum and they are miracle pups." 

Three-year-old Winnie's near-death experience happened while she and Josh were working on his brother-in-law Ed Bowditch's farm cutting a field of maize.

Mr Sibley let Winnie out of his tractor can to go to the toilet when she bolted after a rabbit and went under the rear wheel of the huge forager.

He said: "When it happened I thought 'that's it I've lost my dog'. There was just no way she could have survived being run over by such a big machine.

"Then the whole time she was at the vets I expected a phone call at any minute to say she had not made it.

"We thought she would lose the puppies, so when the scan of Winnie's stomach was taken and the vet could see their hearts beating we couldn't believe it."

Winnie spent five days at the vets having life-saving treatment costing £3,000.

Mr Sibley said: "We weren't sure how the labour would go because Winnie had fractured her pelvis but healed really well and she was able to give birth without any help.

"I was actually about to leave to go on holiday when she went into labour, she wasn't due to have them until after I got back.

"I wasn't flying out until the next morning so I stayed with her."

He added: "The puppies are four weeks old now and starting to run around playing and fighting with each other."

Pam Bowditch, Winnie's vet and Mr Sibley's sister, said: "I really didn't think she was going to make it so to have her and her pups here is really amazing."