Quick-Thinking Police Officer Saves German Shepherd with CPR

LIGONIER, IN: Meet Samo, a member of the Ligonier Police Department's K-9 Unit, who enjoys playing with a tennis ball "to stay active" when he's off duty. This of course raises some questions about the nature of Samo's work with the police department; does Samo have a lot of paperwork to do or something that keeps him from staying active? Is the K-9 unit turning into more of a desk job these days? Does Samo send out emails to "All" with forwarded youtube links and joke lists?

Whatever the answer, it all would have been over for Samo were it not for his quick-thinking partner, Officer Josh Halsey, because while Samo was playing with a tennis ball last Tuesday evening, the unthinkable happened: he swallowed the tennis ball, and began choking.

Fortunately, Halsey found Samo just moments before the dog collapsed. In a Today Show interview, Halsey explains what happened next:

HALSEY: When I get to my police car, I put him on the ground, wondering what's a matter with him. Not breathing, tongue's purple... So I start CPR on him and...

REPORTER: Wait a minute; when you say CPR, do you mean, actually, mouth-to... -nose... resuscitation?

HALSEY: Mouth-to-snout, yes.

End transcript. Halsey is absolutely correct to make a distinction between 'nose' and 'snout', because a snout includes both a nose and a mouth. The experts at pgaa.com say to "place your mouth over the dog's nose and mouth making sure the seal is tight" when performing CPR. Blowing air into a dog's nose alone will accomplish nothing. So don't try it. Especially if the dog is not requiring CPR, and is merely sleeping. That situation is addressed in the first step of the mouth-to-snout procedure listed at veterinarypartner.com:

"Make Certain the Animal is Actually Arrested and Unconscious: Talk to the animal first. Gently touch and attempt to awaken the pet. You could be seriously injured should you attempt to perform CPR on a pet who was only sleeping heavily and was startled awake".

Officer Halsey proved that he did all of his homework during the "Dog Care and Medical Care on Your Canine" portion of the his Canine Academy training, and Samo has recovered. He (Samo) was, in fact, scheduled to return to the office late last week. Samo's inbox must be stuffed after taking sick days, and at this very moment he's probably sorting his way through a bunch of voicemails.

Thanks to the alert reader who brought the story to my attention. Like Isaac Newton, if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Which is a way of saying that if I have blogged about a dog who got CPR, or "seen further", it is by standing on the shoulders of large readers who forward the stories to me.