Posted on 01/17/2007 1:53:26 AM PST by leadpenny
CPR instructor saves her dog
By EDIE GROSS
Debbie Shepherd performed CPR countless times when she served on the Fredericksburg Rescue Squad a decade ago.
But last week was the first time she'd ever had to clear a dog's airway.
Her two black Labradors had just finished dinner Wednesday night and were running around her Spotsylvania backyard when 15-year-old Bear started barking.
Shepherd said she walked out back to find 11-year-old Brutus wheezing and struggling to breathe.
"Then his tongue went blue. I've never seen a dog's tongue go blue before," she said.
Brutus, whose gums had turned white, had stopped breathing.
Shepherd, a Red Cross-certified CPR instructor for seven years, said it never occurred to her she'd have to perform a life-saving procedure on her dog.
"I wasn't sure how to do it on a dog," she said. "At first, I freaked out, but then I thought, 'Let me try this.'"
She used a choking-emergency procedure similar to one she might use on humans, delivering five thrusts to Brutus' abdomen and five back blows.
The dog began wheezing and choked up the offending kibble.
He sat quietly for about four or five minutes before heading back into the house, where he slept the rest of the evening, Shepherd said. Since then, he's been fine.
"As soon as this happened and he was OK, I came in and got online," said Shepherd, who discovered that there are actual procedures--slightly different from those approved for people--for clearing a pet's airway.
She said she's learning them just in case this ever happens again, though she's thrilled her prior training worked for Brutus this time around.
"It freaked me out that it actually worked," she said, "that I could actually do this on a dog."
To reach EDIE GROSS:540/374-5428 Email: egross@freelancestar.com
This should have been titled "Shepherd save Lab."
ARE SOLE posted instructions in comment #11.
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