Jilla

I don't show at Adelaide. It is disgusting and I refuse to put my dogs through it. I had a child rush at one of my dogs a few years back with a stick doll from side show alley. The point of the stick missed my dog's eye by a mm. When I spoke to the mother she took no notice and said I was there to entertain her child so why the fuss.... Easy decision - I don't enter and urge everyone else who cares about their dogs to do the same until they keep the public in the stands and away from the stalls.

This dog had been eating bones daily since a pup. I had two 'warnings' where the bone had stuck a little on her teeth but did not think any more of that. Her teeth were perfect BTW. No reasons for this choke except the brisket bone was a circular shape and she was in a hurry and swallowed it too quickly - and cut off her breathing when it lodged sideways across her wind pipe. For all the people that say they give bones and 'watch them' or 'supervise them' - make sure you know the Heimlich technique. You simply do not have time to get to a Vet once they choke and suffocate and it is a particularly cruel way to see them die. http://www.ehow.com/how_2166868_perform-do...h-maneuver.html I still feed bones - but not to her or any dog over middle age and not circular brisket bones - they get cut smaller or thrown away. I also feed chicken 'mince' which is the chicken cages minced into a sludge. I would rather risk bad teeth than another dog choke and suffocate like that.

Yes - had a 10 yo choke on a brisket bone and virtually die. She was blue and not breathing. It was horrible. I managed to reach the bone and push it sideways and air was released. Then hubbie managed to get his hand down her throat and pull the bone out after my 3 attempts had failed. Then heart massage and compressions and she coughed and then started breathing. It was the longest 5 mins of my life. I saw her go down and was with her for her frantic last attempts to breath... That was two years ago and she is still in brilliant health, but I am very careful now not to feed bones to older dogs or greedy gulpers. It was just so lucky that I was able to get there within seconds that day, hubbie was home,and we started working on her immediately. Another dog had woofed 'funny' and that made me look out the window. Another minute would have been too late.

My vet said it should never be given to pups <12 months.