A NORTH Yorkshire peer is recovering from an accident in which she was pulled from her wheelchair by her Great Dane, at a dog show.

Lady Masham of Ilton, confined to a wheelchair since a horse riding accident in 1958, was showing her dog, Patch, at a Parliamentary dog show, in Westminster, when the accident happened.

She suffered three breaks in one leg and two in the other. Her dog was suddenly startled by a pug, which wandered too close for comfort to Lady Masham.

As Patch lurched at the snub-nosed dog, in defence of 66-year-old Lady Masham, she was pulled from her wheelchair, still holding the lead.

After a week in Westminster Hospital and five weeks in Stoke Mandeville Hospital at Aylesbury, she is now making good progress, following continued treatment at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

Lady Masham recalled her experience as she launched a revamped guide for the disabled in Ripon - which has been produced jointly by Ripon Council for Voluntary Service and Ripon and District Disability Action Group, of which she is a patron.

At the dog show, Patch was pipped for first prize by a greyhound owned by Labour peer, Lord Lipsey.

"People came rushing to my aid when they saw I had been literally pulled out of the wheelchair, but it was a pretty awful experience. I had quite a difficult time," said Lady Masham.

Lady Masham, who sits as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords, praised the efforts of experts in the spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville for assembling metal structures to hold her broken bones in place, rather than plaster, because she was wheelchair-bound