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Learning mouth-to-snout may save pet

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The ABC's of CPR for animals taught to adults and children ...

Our 'second-born' Papillon dog, SOPHIE, loves to chew on toys .. and hold them in her mouth. She can even fall asleep holding on to her "squeeky bone toy" or her "squeeky platypus duck toy" and especially with her "squeeky football toy". There are times, however, when she just starts gagging as if the threads from these toys that she probably swallowed, is affecting her breathing.

When I was young, a neighbor who also had dogs suggested to me that the best thing to do in these cases were to lightly tap the back of your dog (you don't want to break your pet's back), and just wait until they finish gagging or spit out the loose threads. Sometimes, if you ask them 'what's wrong?' expecting a PEOPLE answer, they might just stop gagging, look at you and actually make it worse by not breathing at all!

So, we just let her gag and cough and clear her throat, and it is at that time we figure it's time to throw out her 'precious' squeeky toy, and go out and buy her a new one.

Take care.
HART