This is the heartbreaking moment two loyal pooches were found guarding their dead owner - refusing to let paramedics remove her.

Rescue teams discovered the protective pooches when they were called to the home of Samlee Manwich, 87, a nun who had not been seen for several days.

The two grieving dogs were fiercely guarding the body in the single-storey home in Ang Thong, central Thailand, on May 25.

Even though Samlee's body was decomposing and had a foul smell, the Aspin dogs were staying near to her.

They tried to chase away the paramedics when they first attempted to remove the body and put it into an ambulance.

One of the nuns at the temple said that Samlee had kept the dogs for more than 10 years. She lived alone and her dogs were her closest companions.

Sister Kanjana said: "We had seen Samlee go to the hospital from time to time and she also had a daily routine of going out to buy food for her dogs.

"However, we started to worry about her after we had not seen her out for a couple of days. Then the monk found her dead after he smelled something rotten from her parsonage and went to check."

The body is now being kept in the morgue while waiting for her family to take care of the funeral while the two loyal dogs will be taken care of by the temple.

Paramedics who examined the body believe that Samlee had been dead for at least five days due to natural causes as there was no sign of external injuries.