[MyPeanutAbbyGra]

Originally Posted by Jokerman

I'm very sorry you had to go through this, but I'm so glad little Tatum is okay. You are very lucky you saw it happen and could save her. I know how scared you had to have been.

I had a similar thing happen to one of my dogs about ten years ago. I was outside talking on the phone and just happened to glance over at Maggie and saw her clawing her face. I threw the phone down and started screaming for my DH to come help me. I didn't know CPR and neither did DH, and I could see Maggie was dying before my eyes. Her jaws were snapping back and forth rapidly like an alligator, and her mouth was covered in dirt, and she was clawing her mouth and throat trying to get the object dislodged. My husband started yelling at me to do the Heimlich Maneuver on her. At this point, she was so close to death she had quit struggling and I thought she was dead. I was flipping out. She was a large dog, about 90#. I grabbed her up and after several thrusts under her rib cage didn't dislodge whatever she was choking on, I turned her upside down and started swinging her downward, and whatever was hung in her throat finally dislodged, and she took a huge gasp of air. I immediately ran and grabbed a bowl of water and started washing her mouth out, trying to wash all the dirt and sand out of her mouth and off her face. She was so GRATEFUL to me afterwards. There is no doubt in my mind she knew I had saved her life and she was thanking me for it. She had been as scared as I was. It nearly scared me out of my mind, so I know what you went through tonight. I hope nothing like this ever happens to you again.

Oh My Goodness Gracious!
What fast thinking! Under other circumstances, do you think you could have picked the dog up like that? I'm trying to imagine myself doing that and I'm afraid I wouldn't be strong enough. (we have an 85 lb Golden Retriever) Kudos to you for saving her life