Yes, it's mouth to muzzle

Last week, Amelia and I took the Dogsafe Canine First Aid course. It was all day Sunday, during which we had theory and got to practice CPR (1 person & 2 person) on life-like mannequins (dogequins?), and restraining/bandaging techniques on large stuffed dogs. We learned about choking, shock, arterial bleeding, bone & spine injuries, drowning, heat stroke, hypothermia, and what to do if a dog's eyeball falls out (apparently not that uncommon in puggy faced dogs) or if your dog eviscerates himself by snagging his belly on branches or a sharp fence (my first order of business in that type of emergency is to quietly throw up in a corner). On Tuesday night we returned for 3 hours with Daisy, who patiently suffered the indignities of being examined, restrained, muzzled, bandaged for a variety of imaginary conditions, and having her rectal temperature taken, so that we could pass the practicum portion of the course.

This was Amelia's first foray into adult learning, complete with multiple choice exam & she rocked, getting 96%. I was also impressed with how easily she answered what to her seemed common sense questions from the instructor during the lectures, like 'what is the most important organ in the body?'. The other participants, all professional dog walkers or dog daycare staff, offered the heart as their answer, but Amelia answered right away that it's the brain. She almost managed to keep the 'duh' out of her voice too.

This is one of the mannequins. They have 'lungs' which you need to inflate, and a femoral pulse which you need to be able to find.

The dalmatians were another type of mannequin, similar to the chocolate labs but they had a fuzzy cover and their mouths don't open so you have to just pretend you're doing the tongue sweep. Their femoral pulse was a lot harder to find too. Each student got one dog to work CPR on but we switched around trying to find the femoral pulse.

Here's Amelia and a stack of dogs. Lovely compliant patients, these. We hardly ever had to muzzle these guys.

It was a good experience, and we're both glad we did it. Our instructor was Dogsafe's founder and we found her a funny and upbeat instructor. The Dogsafe course is supported by the BC SPCA, and while more expensive that the St. John's Ambulance pet first aid course, I think the syllabus is substantially more thorough.