An attentive dog in northeastern Thailand is being gratified as a hero by inhabitants after finding and saving an infant reportedly buried in a field by his teenage mother.

The infant was lying under a layer of dirt near a farm in the Chumpuang district of Nakhon Ratchasima province but was found the same day by a curious canine named Ping Pong.

The dog dug around the area and began barking, alerting his owner, a cattle herder, who went to the site.

The case officer, Panuvat Udkam said the dog found the baby not long after his mother buried him.

Udkam added that the boy is very young and healthy, recovering in hospital, and had not been named yet.

The teenage mother was prosecuted for attempted murder and abandonment of children.

Officer Panuvat said the 15-year-old suspect had tried to dispose the child because she was afraid her parents would get angry.

"So after she delivered the baby by herself she buried it," he added.

Ping Pong is a 6-year-old Thai breed dog who only has three working legs. He is owned by a 41-year-old local man, Usa Nisaika who raised him from birth.

Usa added that “Ping Pong was hit by a car, so he’s disabled. But I kept him because he’s so loyal and obedient, and always helps me out when I go into the fields to tend to my cattle.

 “He’s loved by the entire village. It’s amazing he found the baby,” he said.

Ping Pong is now the hero of Korat’s Tha Talat community.