Emergency Prevention Alert.
Avoid the danger of swallowing small objects, look around your home at the dog’s eye level. See what they see when puppy-proofing. Stay near your dog during playtime and when offering chew toys.

What to do if your puppy dog is choking. First, is your dog choking, or, overall health-wise having difficulty breathing? And how can you be certain of the difference? Obviously witnessing your pet eating something then trying to cough is a sign it’s stuck. May even take a deep breath. A challenged reaction will be a paw to their neck or mouth. A startled, distressful, panic-like behavior tells you the reason for the breathing difficulty. Remember, a modified version of the Heimlich maneuver should only be given when you know for sure an object is blocking the airway. Why? If you unnecessarily administer this first aid, you could cause injury to the animal.

Step 1. Determined that your pet is indeed choking.

Step 2. Look inside the dog’s mouth. I repeat, “Look inside”. You do not want to remove anatomy that ought not be removed so you need to see what you are doing. Attempt to easily remove anything foreign. (Including leftover objects hidden in there from who-knows-when.)

Step 3. Not so easy? Stand ‘em up with their head facing down. Strong beasts will stand if you lift up the hindquarters. With the palm of your hand give a sharp blow between the shoulder blades. If the object does not dislodge, proceed with modified Heimlich.

Step 4. Modified Heimlich. Stand over dog with hindquarters towards you. Underneath, just below the dog’s sternum, place your clasped hands. With a fist just behind ribs, quickly pull up into the abdomen 3-5 times. Look inside the mouth for dislodged object. If your pet is a squirmy-wormy, get back into proper position & try again. Repeat 1-2 times if needed. No success? Get to the veterinarian. Success? Great, consider a vet visit to examine for internal injury.

About the Author. Debbie Readinger is the writer, webmaster of ForDogOwners.com