My GSD scary story (today) - Page 1

Hello Everyone,
I have a rather scary story to tell everyone who reads. My dog was very close to losing his life today.

My dogs name is "Farvo" he has been my pal for 5 years now and he was very close to losing his life today. He is highly driven for the ball, I always have his ball ready for him when he does good with his training. Today at training was like any other day, or so I thought. With the energy that Farvo has I always throw his ball long distances for him to run off a little steam. Today I threw his ball, he got to the ball and started pawing at his mouth roughly and was gagging, I knew right away what was happening. I ran as fast as I could to my dog and sure enough, the ball is lodged in his throat. When I reached Farvo he had his mouth wide open and pawing at his mouth. 

I grabbed farvos mouth and saw that about 3 inches of the balls string luckly was in his mouth and I grabbed the string, as Farvo next gagging motion happened I carefully pulled on the string and the ball came out. He took awile to catch his breath, but moments after the ball was pulled out Farvo gave me many many many kisses. It's weird, it's like he knew I saved his life and I was his hero. 
 This is very similar to the ball that I have for farvo. The string is not near as long though, It's about 5-6 inches long but the ball size is right on, even the "bumps" are exact (on the ball). Farvo below barking for his ball




Just thought I could share me and farvos scary story, I feel Farvo is a lucky man. Make sure to watch your dogs carefully when playing with toys.



  

That's why I play with rings and not balls.  Glad your dog is ok and you were able to act so quickly.

Margaret N-J

How frightening! I'm glad you got to him in time, thanks for sharing your story.

Definitely a scary experience.  Glad your dog is ok.  We use larger sized balls because of this.  Here are the ones we find last the longest that our gsds love:


Starmark everlasting fun ball--large size (can buy online or at many pet stores)

Jolly ball (can buy online)--large size:

Trust me we have already gotton rid of these kind of balls, we had like 3 or 4, they obviously are not good for this breed. We do have many large balls that we will be using from now on. btw cute pup ggturner 

I'm sure you were terrified while it was happening, but the adreniline kicked in! Thank goodness you acted so quickly to save your dog.  Farvo knew you saved him, I am sure of it!

Yes, I have heard other scary stories like yours, so we also love our Jolly balls, and rings. 

Lucky you had the rope showing eh!!  Many years ago I trained a long coat Gsd bitch for a family.  When I went out to them to do a follow up and the children were throwing, of all things, a golf ball, the bitch jumped in the air and caught the ball and it lodged right in the back of her throat, I was bitten quite badly on my hands trying to get it out, sadly she died infront of us, the vet managed to get it out in seconds with a large forceps but it was to late for her,  it was so smooth and slimmy I could not get a grip on it at all.
Over the years I have often seen people smacking golf balls into the distance with a golf club just for the dog to retrieve the ball for them, most are shocked when i tell them the story but some idiots just shrug and carry on... believing it wont happen to them.

TC

So sorry to hear about your scary situation, Farvo's mom.  So sorry for your loss, TC.  I had a similar experience.  Thankfully, being a dog trainer/groomer, I had taken a pet first aid course and was able to have a happy ending. 

My husband's GSD got ahold of one of the smaller puppy balls that I had missed picking up.  It was the perfect size to fit in his throat and before I noticed he had it, I saw him choking.  I tried to get ahold of it, but it was also too slick and slimy to get ahold of and I was getting bit pretty good.  I remembered how to do the Heimlich maneuver on a large dog by holding his back feet up with his head pointed to the ground, grasp the dog around the waist and thrust down towards his head, under the rib cage.  Thankfully, the maneuver worked and I was able to save the dog's life. 

If there is a Pet First Aid course that anyone reading this can attend, it is well worth the time and money to go.  You never know what situations you may encounter down the road.