A loyal pet dog waited in vain outside a hospital for more than a week for its dead owner to return.

The brown Aspin pooch's owner suffered a heart attack and was rushed to a hospital in Valenzuela City, the Philippines on November 20.

Paramedics saw the dog emerge from the gate and ran after their vehicle as they drove away.

They asked the driver to stop for a moment and let the pooch in after realising that the dog was the old man's beloved pet.

However, when they arrived at the Valenzuela Medical Hospital, they had to leave the dog at the gates since pets are not allowed inside.

Unfortunately, the old man did not survive and died later that evening while the poor dog was still left outside still waiting for him on November 27.

The dog was being given food by kind staff and passer-by until onlooker Emman Teoxon, found the dog when he visited the hospital with his partner.

Emman was moved by after hearing the dog's devastating story which he compared to "Hachiko" from Japan.

He said: "I found the dog sitting patiently outside the gate as if waiting for someone. It did not look like a stray dog because its fur was clean."

The couple approached the dog and asked around about it to find its owner until the staff told them what happened.

Emman said: "One of the staff working at the hospital is my neighbour and she told me the story of the dog. I almost cried after knowing about the dog."

A street vendor said that the dog was taken by the old man's relatives once, but it returned alone a day later determined to wait outside the hospital.

Emman took the dog home temporarily and appealed to pet lovers for help in adopting the dog and giving it a new family.

He said: ''It is heartbreaking to watch, you can see in the eyes of the dog how sad he is waiting and hoping that his owner will come back.

"You can see in the dog how loyal he is after many days had passed, he was waiting for his master."