# I learned a scary lesson



## minnies_mom (Jun 15, 2014)

A couple of days ago I had Minnie out playing at the park with a few of her medium sized dog friends. A friendly black lab came and joined in the fun. All the dogs were running and playing and Minnie joined in. She was running behind everyone and looked like she was having fun. 

Minnie is 5lbs but can hold her own with other dogs so I don't usually worry too much about her. But suddenly she collided or got trampled by the lab. She usually does a somersault, flips over and keeps on running if she bumps into another dog but this time she didn't get up. I went over to see how she was and she she was laying limp and unconscious in the grass. I picked her up hoping she would come to and give me some sign she was okay but she remained limp. I was terrified and I thought she was dying but I did my best to stay calm and examine her. I felt her heart beating and tried to hold out hope that she would wake up. 

As I held her limp body in my arms I noticed that her tongue was turning a blue/grey color and knew right away she wasn't getting air. Without thinking I began mouth to mouth, giving her short little breaths. Within about a minute her eyes opened and started moving and she regained consciousness. After a trip to the emergency vet and some xrays she was discharged with a bit of pain medication. After a couple days she seems to be back to herself. We were lucky.

This taught me two things. Minnie is small and will no longer will get to play with big dogs. And more importantly I realized how important First Aid and CPR training is. It has been a few years since I took a course and I will be taking another one as soon as I can. I feel like I have to recommend that everyone learn CPR. You never know when you will need to use it, on your chi baby or on a human loved one. May all of your Chi babies play safe!


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## michele (Jan 12, 2009)

Well done you probably saved her life,thank you for sharing your story.


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## Chiluv04 (Dec 19, 2013)

Wow that's scary. So glad you were proactive and able to save your baby. 


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## jan896 (Dec 9, 2009)

WOW....just WOW....
glad everything is OK now

did the ER VET say why she quit breathing??


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## xela (Apr 19, 2014)

Yes, please do share the vet's explanation if any. I got a boxer who likes to play rough with my chi. I'd like to keep this from happening to little Bruno.


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## minnies_mom (Jun 15, 2014)

When we got to the vet she examined her and say she was stable for now and suggested x-rays. The x-rays didn't show anything other than a bit of gas in her stomach lol. She didn't think that it was a concussion because Minnie didn't have any abnormal pupil dilation and her eyes we tracking movement normal. The x-rays we also done to rule out any injury or problem with her trachea or lungs. Since they showed a clear airway we weren't able to pinpoint exactly what happened other than it was from the trauma of the injury. For the day after her accident she would do a whimpery breathing thing when I would pick her up and hold her so I'm pretty sure she was in pain and was a bit bruised up.


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## coco_little_bear (May 30, 2012)

Wow that's so scary! Thank god you knew what to do to save her! I wonder what the vet's explanation is too. Thank you for sharing your story. I learnt CPR, but it was many many years ago and for humans. I'm sure it's similar for dogs, but it's worth looking into it just in case I ever need to do it.


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## MaddiLovesDogs (Jan 16, 2014)

My heart stops to think of my own dog "going limp!" I've worked with extremely elderly dogs (17+) who've had seizures at the grooming shop and have given CPR as well... but it's SO hard to stay calm when that's happening to YOUR DOG!!! You were so very brave! It's so important we keep our cool for our dogs in situations like that. Bravo!

I'm sorry you had to learn a lesson this way :crybaby: I think we all learn every day how to better protect and enrich our chis lives. They may be able to "hold their own" mentally (and it's one of their most endearing qualities) but physically it just isn't worth the risk. They'll always be smaller than most every dog around, and even in a dog that's friendly a chihuahua can bring out an unconscious and unprovoked "prey drive." THAT lesson _I learned the hard way, too_.

I'm so happy Minnie is healthy and this didn't effect her personality! :cheers: I'm sure it was your bravery and knowledge that snapped her out of it and helped her make a full recovery!


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## Zorana1125 (Oct 24, 2010)

Holy moly! This is an amazing store yet definitely a lesson learned! I'm so glad your baby survived and you were able to revive her, you are a hero! I find when I'm out walking the dogs and we see a bigger dog, I always pick them up or cross the street. I think people may think I'm being rude but I'm mostly terrified of my guys upsetting the big dog and having them go after my chi's. I've seen and heard too many sad stories. Thank god Minnie is ok!! 

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## doginthedesert (Oct 10, 2011)

That is so scarry!! I took a pet first aid course not long ago (a refresher from the one I took years ago) but I hope I never have to use it! 

I do let Kerri play with bigger dogs, but only ones we know whose owners are willing to train them for it. Me and Kerri train bigger dogs (it actually works really great if you start with a puppy). Any time they walk up to Kerri to play we teach them to lay down, as long as they stay with all 4 elbows down they can keep playing. Our bigger dog friends (we have a few) all automatically down when they see Kerri and they can play like that. They have a lot of fun.


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## MaddiLovesDogs (Jan 16, 2014)

doginthedesert said:


> That is so scarry!! I took a pet first aid course not long ago (a refresher from the one I took years ago) but I hope I never have to use it!
> 
> I do let Kerri play with bigger dogs, but only ones we know whose owners are willing to train them for it. Me and Kerri train bigger dogs (it actually works really great if you start with a puppy). Any time they walk up to Kerri to play we teach them to lay down, as long as they stay with all 4 elbows down they can keep playing. Our bigger dog friends (we have a few) all automatically down when they see Kerri and they can play like that. They have a lot of fun.


I've never heard of "play training" like that! I think I'm going to copy your notes


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## doginthedesert (Oct 10, 2011)

I actually heard about the idea from a friend with an English mastiff puppy that used Kerri to help train it, I think her breeder was the one that was all about it. Works like a charm as long as it is a playful (because the "reward" for the down is play), well tempered dog- but those are really the only ones that should be trusted with my tiny chis anyway so it works great!


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

I think Minnie had the wind knocked out of her, and she just had a rough time remembering to breath! I'm so glad you knew what to do! Sometimes when you hit yourself really hard, your breathing center just goes quiet for a little bit, and needs something like CPR to start it up. Sometimes a little slap between the shoulder blades helps.


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## Hollowaysal (Mar 7, 2013)

Oh gosh, well done you, I'm not sure I could have stayed so calm. Glad that she is all ok now. This is why I won't let mine off the lead. Think I'm gonna read up on CPR!


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## Huly (Mar 5, 2012)

Great job! My thoughts and prayers go out to you


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## CHITheresa (Apr 30, 2011)

Awesome you saved her. I did mouth to mouth on my Pom once, was so scary.


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## NHchi (May 4, 2014)

Woow-I'm off to look up dog cpr. I'm a retired ICU nurse and never really thought about cpr
for dogs-must be similar to a baby. Good for you!! Probably got the breath knocked out of her and couldn't get it back. Luckily didn't have a myocardial problem too.
Totally agree that they think they are bigger then they are- mine sure does.


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## sugarmag (Jun 19, 2013)

Oh I'm so sorry that happened, but glad she's OK now and you were able to learn from it. And thanks for telling your story! I'm going to do some reading on canine CPR now.

A similar thing happened with Chica not too long ago. I feel bad for her sometimes because she doesn't get to play with other dogs very often, so when I took her to a friends house with a black lab I let them play together. The weekend prior Chica was trying so hard to get another friend's black lab to play with her and he wouldn't pay her any mind, so when this new lab wanted to play Chica was so excited and I let them run around. Big mistake, never again! Next thing I knew Chica was running up to me and cowering behind my legs and crying so loud! She was clearly in pain and looking up at me like she was scared. I immediately grabbed her up into my arms and made sure she was OK and she stopped crying after a few seconds and seemed fine after that. I assumed she got trampled and I felt TERRIBLE for putting her in that situation. Really reminded me of how fragile she is. It could have been so much worse and I was lucky it wasn't. I learned my lesson!


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