A PEDIGREE dog which almost died after being run over by an off-road motorbike is being nursed back to health by a healer 400 miles away.

Five-year-old Flame, an Irish red setter bitch, was left in a critical condition with a broken ankle and chipped spine after the bike sped over her on a bridlepath in Darlington.

Her owners, Kevin and Elizabeth Swainston, of Muirkirk Grove, Darlington, still don't know if she will survive and have turned to reiki, an ancient therapy designed to clear energy blockages, to help her recover.

Healer Rachel Shaw, whose red setter Starchelle Chicago Bear won Cruft's in 1995, is using a cutting of Flame's hair to cure the animal, from her home in Randalstown, Northern Ireland.

She said: "Reiki is often done by the laying on of hands but it can also be done from a distance.

"People might be sceptical but the proof will be in the dog. I can use the hair to focus on healing and I can send healing energy to the dog.

"I also use a crystal to douse and ask the animal questions. Flame is very traumatised."

Mrs Swainston, 49, said: "It might sound weird but we will try anything to stop Flame being in pain."

North-East reiki master Alison Agius said: "It doesn't sound ludicrous to me. We do teach distance healing though a cutting of hair isn't necessarily needed."

* An 18-year-old man was arrested, but not charged, in connection with the crash near Green Lane,Whinfield, on May 26.