To night while eating his dinner Jake started choking. I've never had a dog do this before. Thankfully he's ok now. But what I need to know is how to help him if this happens again. I really thought I was going to lose him tonight. Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

If you contact your local vet or animal shelter they can give you information on local pet CPR classes... I think it is something all pet owners should do. You other option is to ask your vet to show you how to handle situations like that... I am sure he/she would be happy to.

Thanks Orangedog. I'll contact them tomorrow and see what I can find out.

glad to help and SO happy your pup was OK!!!!!!!!!!

[lil mutt]

I dont know what i will going to do if that happen to me... Maybe you can contact a local shelter and ask what you can do in that kind of situations...

When my dog started choking on his rawhide bone (which we dont feed anymore because of this) I just stuck my fingers down his throat and took it out. Probably not a good thing to do though,i should probably find out a better way.

so what did he eat before your dog started choking?

I thought of sticking my fingers down his throat, and probably would have if he was a small dog, of if he had continued choking. I ended up rubbing his throat and trying the heimlich manuever on him. I have no idea if anything i did helped or if he managed to clear it himself. I'm just very thankful that he's still with me and ok. He was eating dinner when he started choking.

We were taught in our puppy obedience class. I think it was really good of the teacher to go over this.

I agree Dance. After the scare I had I think its something every petowner should know.

Originally Posted by Jakesmom

I thought of sticking my fingers down his throat, and probably would have if he was a small dog, of if he had continued choking.

The one thing my dogs know is if Momma says "drop it" and they try to swallow instead...Momma WILL go down their throat to get "it". I am Head Bitch of this pack that that gives me ultimate rights to anything I want! Actually, teaching your dog "leave it" and "drop it" and that you aren't afraid of going down their throat after "it" is an important safety issue.

Originally Posted by Frecs

The one thing my dogs know is if Momma says "drop it" and they try to swallow instead...Momma WILL go down their throat to get "it". I am Head Bitch of this pack that that gives me ultimate rights to anything I want! Actually, teaching your dog "leave it" and "drop it" and that you aren't afraid of going down their throat after "it" is an important safety issue.

Jake knows leave it and drop it. Thats one of the first things I taught him. The problem that night was that he was choking on his dinner, not something that he had picked up someplace.

Originally Posted by Jakesmom

Jake knows leave it and drop it. Thats one of the first things I taught him. The problem that night was that he was choking on his dinner, not something that he had picked up someplace.

Those are important commands for sure! I understood he was choking on his dinner...I was actually responding to the comments about whether or not to go down their throat after something.

Your posting has reminded me that I need to look into learning some doggie first aid.

I'm still looking into the doggie first aid, and havent had any luck so far. I'm not one to give up easily though.
Looking back over the last couple weeks has been interesting, it seems mine and his relationship has taken a big turn since he was choking that night. I dont know if my trying to help him actually has had anything to do with it or not, but before that happened we were still having some minor and major behavioral problems. Mind you, I've only had him since august and he was a rescue from the humane society. He's around 2 years old, so I expected some extra baggage when I brought him home. Over the last couple weeks since the choking incident most of the problems we were still having seem to have disappeared. He still barks whenever I leave him, but he's no longer wetting in the house when hes left alone, he's finally decided that what I say goes wether he likes it or not, and can be left lose in the house at night instead of having to be confined to the bedroom.
Its almost as if a light switch turned on all of a sudden with him. I really do wish dogs could talk sometimes so you learn what their past life was like before you got them.

Perhaps without realizing it, you sent him the biggest wave of "I'm the Pack Leader" energy imaginable and he realized he can relax now....he doesn't have to be in charge.

I adopted a 3 year old (?) cocker spaniel in December. While he bonded almost immediately, it has taken him some time to relax. We are still working on the relationship. We are also having some barking issues but I think in his case it is more about the need for exercise. He is high energy (which I wanted) and needs lots of exercise. On days when we can get that exercise, he is too tired to bark at nothing. I know what you mean about wanting to know their past life but on the plus side, if we don't know we can't dwell in the past.

If you find out anything on the doggie first aid, please post the info!

Thankfully Jake dosent bark at nothing. His bark echos throughout the house when he does bark.
When I find out anything about doggie first aid, I'll post the info here for you.