I wonder how often this sort of thing happens and people don’t report it? Mary, furmom to Cassie and Dusty, swears that my Reba (who has since gone to the Bridge) saved her life.
Mary was visiting me and, whole I was gone, had a severe allergic reaction and she couldn’t breathe. She says that Reba, a coonhound, threw her front paws on Mary’s chest and got her breathing again.
Thanks to all the folks who barked in this story from the Cecil Whig!
Wonder dog is all golden
*Woman claims pet pooch gave her the HeimlichA 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 wouldnt 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 Youre 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 couldnt breathe,” she said. I tried to do the thing where you lean over a chair and give yourself the Heimlich, but it didnt work.”
Parkhurst said she then began beating her chest, an action that might have attracted Tobys attention.
The next think I know, Tobys up on his hind feet and hes 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.”
Tobys jumping apparently managed to dislodge the apple from Parkhursts 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 doctors office.
I, literally, have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest,” Parkhurst said. Im still a little hoarse, but otherwise, Im OK.”
At first, Parkhurst thought Toby was simply trying to play.
Now she believes the golden retriever that she and her husband rescued from a Dumpster knew exactly what he was doing.
I know it sounds a little weird, but I think he had a sense of what was happening,” Parkhurst said Monday. Of all the dogs in the world, I never would have expected this goofy one here to know the Heimlich.”
As strange as Parkhursts story might sound, Tobys actions actually followed the emergency measures recommended for choking victims by the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross.
