Holy hellll. HUUUUGE incident at dog training today. Dog nearly died. Do I have your attention?
So at the end of dog training today we were doing the final exercise. Restraint. The trainer borrowed a class dog. A french bulldog.
She gets into position and starts to restrain the dog. Dog struggles. She holds dog firmly but not harshly. Suddenly she stops and puts the dog down. She says 'there's blood' and there was a little bit coming from him mouth. Then he's on the ground and the trainer is screaming 'BAILEY! BAILEY!' The whole thing took about 15 seconds.
Trainer sends owner to get first aid kit and other owner steps in. I hand Dexs lead to another guy and suddenly I'm on the ground in front of the dog. I don't remember getting down. I'm just there. I explain that I'm a vet nurse so they don't think I'm just interfering. Dog is breathing but barely, and bleeding from the mouth. He's in the hands of the second owner. I instruct him to hold the dogs rear end slighy high so the blood can just drain out. At some point the dog poos himself. We swab out a few clots to clean the mouth as well as possible.
I go to throw out dexs poo bag and give first owner a hug. She's on the phone to the vets and they want to make an appointment. She asks if that's ok but i advise against it. She explains is an emergency then disappears. We presume she's gone to get the car.
I get back to the scene. Dog has slightly laboured breathing but breathing on his own. Then he goes limp, vomits and struggles breathing again. The three of us start to stimulate breathing.
At this point first owner returns. They grab the dog and rush him to the nearest vet. This really worries me because he's not stable at this stage and they don't know first aid.
Trainer goes to call big boss. I clean up poo/vomit/blood/first aid supplies and after the bin go to check on her. She's on the phone, fallen to pieces. I give her a hug. Phone rings. Big boss. She tries to explain what happened then passes the phone to me. Big boss asks who he's speaking to. I identify myself and tell him i did his dog trainer course. He remembers me. I inform him what has happened. It wasn't her fault. He agrees with me. She did nothing wrong.
I ask if someone else can take over training for the day. He has no one but asks if i can cancel the days training on his behalf.
I leave trainer with another student while i go to get dex and pack up trainers stuff. I explain to the next class (that saw the tail end of the incident) that trainer is in no shape to continue to train that day. They completely understand. Then i take her stuff back to the car.
I have zero intention of letting her drive until calm, so i tell her I'm taking her for a coffee.
Owners come back as we're moving off. Dog has fluid on lungs but isn't on oxygen. They've given 'anaphylactic medicine' and will observe. I tell them we're all going for a coffee.
So we move to the cafe in the park. We're there an hour when big boss calls to tell me he's on his way. We wait around and chat. I manage to calm them down, but they're still pretty upset.
Big boss comes in and everyone goes to pieces again. But he's satisfied that this was a freak accident. He gets vet details and the coffee bill. Which i was prepared to get but he offered.
We split up soon after and i give trainer one last hug.
I've since heard from big boss. He popped into the vets and the dog was doing well. He should be home by now.
So at the end of dog training today we were doing the final exercise. Restraint. The trainer borrowed a class dog. A french bulldog.
She gets into position and starts to restrain the dog. Dog struggles. She holds dog firmly but not harshly. Suddenly she stops and puts the dog down. She says 'there's blood' and there was a little bit coming from him mouth. Then he's on the ground and the trainer is screaming 'BAILEY! BAILEY!' The whole thing took about 15 seconds.
Trainer sends owner to get first aid kit and other owner steps in. I hand Dexs lead to another guy and suddenly I'm on the ground in front of the dog. I don't remember getting down. I'm just there. I explain that I'm a vet nurse so they don't think I'm just interfering. Dog is breathing but barely, and bleeding from the mouth. He's in the hands of the second owner. I instruct him to hold the dogs rear end slighy high so the blood can just drain out. At some point the dog poos himself. We swab out a few clots to clean the mouth as well as possible.
I go to throw out dexs poo bag and give first owner a hug. She's on the phone to the vets and they want to make an appointment. She asks if that's ok but i advise against it. She explains is an emergency then disappears. We presume she's gone to get the car.
I get back to the scene. Dog has slightly laboured breathing but breathing on his own. Then he goes limp, vomits and struggles breathing again. The three of us start to stimulate breathing.
At this point first owner returns. They grab the dog and rush him to the nearest vet. This really worries me because he's not stable at this stage and they don't know first aid.
Trainer goes to call big boss. I clean up poo/vomit/blood/first aid supplies and after the bin go to check on her. She's on the phone, fallen to pieces. I give her a hug. Phone rings. Big boss. She tries to explain what happened then passes the phone to me. Big boss asks who he's speaking to. I identify myself and tell him i did his dog trainer course. He remembers me. I inform him what has happened. It wasn't her fault. He agrees with me. She did nothing wrong.
I ask if someone else can take over training for the day. He has no one but asks if i can cancel the days training on his behalf.
I leave trainer with another student while i go to get dex and pack up trainers stuff. I explain to the next class (that saw the tail end of the incident) that trainer is in no shape to continue to train that day. They completely understand. Then i take her stuff back to the car.
I have zero intention of letting her drive until calm, so i tell her I'm taking her for a coffee.
Owners come back as we're moving off. Dog has fluid on lungs but isn't on oxygen. They've given 'anaphylactic medicine' and will observe. I tell them we're all going for a coffee.
So we move to the cafe in the park. We're there an hour when big boss calls to tell me he's on his way. We wait around and chat. I manage to calm them down, but they're still pretty upset.
Big boss comes in and everyone goes to pieces again. But he's satisfied that this was a freak accident. He gets vet details and the coffee bill. Which i was prepared to get but he offered.
We split up soon after and i give trainer one last hug.
I've since heard from big boss. He popped into the vets and the dog was doing well. He should be home by now.
