Woman's Dog Saves Her Life By Giving Her Heimlich Maneuver

[matcom]

<snip>

A Calvert woman claims her 2-year-old golden retriever saved her life Friday by giving her the canine version of the Heimlich maneuver.

“The doctor said I probably wouldn’t be here without Toby,” said Debbie Parkhurst, 45, a jewelry artist who lives near Rising Sun High School with her husband, Kevin, and their two dogs. “I keep looking at him and saying ‘You’re amazing.’”

Parkhurst said she was home alone with the dogs Friday afternoon when she decided to snack on an apple.

Suddenly, she said, a chunk of the fruit became wedged in her windpipe.

“It was lodged pretty tight because I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I tried to do the thing where you lean over a chair and give yourself the Heimlich, but it didn’t work.”

Parkhurst said she then began beating her chest, an action that might have attracted Toby’s attention.

“The next think I know, Toby’s up on his hind feet and he’s got his front paws on my shoulders,” she recalled. “He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.”

Toby’s jumping apparently managed to dislodge the apple from Parkhurst’s windpipe.

“As soon as I started breathing, he stopped and began licking my face, as if to keep me from passing out,” she said.

A friend soon arrived and, after witnessing the canine rescue, drove Parkhurst to the doctor’s office.

“I, literally, have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest,” Parkhurst said. “I’m still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I’m OK.”

http://www.cecilwhig.com/articles/2007/03/27/news/01.txt

[HuffleClaw]

1. suuuuuure

and then it played a game of scrabble with her.

[RebelOne]

3. Don't underestimate the intelligence of dogs, especially goldens. n/t

[jpgray]

2. Golden retrievers are fucking brilliant

This wouldn't surprise me too much.

[Purveyor]

6. Agreed as is the Labrador Retriever. Coal black is my favorite! eom.

[xchrom]

4. dogs rock -- and this one rocks the house.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. That doesn't sound like the Heimlich *maneuver*

More like a gesture.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. And this was a dog who was rescued from a dumpster...

:-)

[Demoiselle]

8. I like this story, and I love Goldens...but...

The Heimlich manoeuver doesn't involve pressure ON the chest. You have to
pop somebody BELOW the chest/rib cage, centered just below the sternum...it acts on the diaphragm muscle
which whooshes air up through the throat. That lovely dog may have bounced the bit of apple out of her
throat by jumping on her chest...or he may have landed a good fierce paw in the right place while jumping around,
but I think it's a bit much to claim he performed the Heimlich manouever.
Now I will stop being a party pooper and give a hurrah and a loud GOOD DOG to Toby.