AVIGNON, France (AFP) - A French woman's loyal German Shepherd dog saved her from committing suicide by knocking aside a rifle she tried to fire into her heart, local police said.

The 63-year-old woman had walked into her garden in the southern town of Sorgues in the Vaucluse region, fired several test shots of a 22-calibre rifle and then turned the gun on her chest.

"At the moment she pulled the trigger, her dog jumped on her and diverted the shot," a local police officer told AFP, adding that the dog "probably sensed things and knocked into her to save her." The woman was found by her husband, conscious but suffering from a chest wound. She was taken to hospital but her injury is not considered life-threatening.