How Save Your Dog’s Life

Dogs are their human’s best friends. They can be loyal and fun to be around. More importantly, though, they can be exceptionally loving, which is why any responsible dog owner can benefit from knowing how to perform CPR on their dogs for those cases of emergence.

According to PetMD’s Dr. Jennifer Coates, DVM, dog CPR should only be performed when it is necessary as otherwise, it can have negative effects on the dog.

To successfully perform CPR, you will also first need to determine the size of your dog as there are two different placements you can use depending on your dog’s size.

Before you begin with hand placement, first ensure that your pet doesn’t have anything in their throat that could potentially be stopping them from breathing. You should do that before you start performing CPR.
Once you have determined that you can continue with the following hand placements.

Small dogs: Form a fist and then put your hand over their heart. Your other hand should go on top of your fist.
Deep-chested dogs: Palm down, place your hand on the widest part of their chest. Your second hand should go on top of the other.

Barrel-chested dogs: Make sure your dog is on their back. Place your hands one on top of the other on their sternum. Ensure that your shoulders are directly above your hands.

Once you have your hands placed properly start pushing repetitively at a rate of 100-120 compressions each minute. The compressions should only be one-third to one-half of your dog’s chest.

Always allow the chest to come back to its regular position before pressing down again.

You can also give your dog rescue breath. First, close their mouth and extend their neck. From there use your mouth to cover their nose and start exhaling into their nose. For smaller dogs under 30 pounds, you should cover their nose and use a mouth-to-mouth technique.