The Esplanade
This photo was taken on Riley's first trip to the Esplanade in Boston. We parked on the other side of Storrow Drive and had to carry him most of the way over to the river. He walked maybe all of 10 steps. We spent the afternoon enjoying the wonderful weather and our new baby. He played, he chewed on grass, he napped. I was like a new mother. I had packed an entire bag full of things for him: a towel to lay on, water bowl, water, chewing bones, a tupperware container of kibble for his mid-day meal, toys, poop baggies, special treats etc. It's funny now that I look back, we acted like first-time parents.
As you see in this photo, he is wearing a chest harness that doubles as a seat belt for the car. This was a great tool for keeping our little one safe in the car as well as an easy way to control him as a puppy on leash. It is something I highly recommend for dogs of all sizes who are not safely crated in cars.
I remember this day very clearly because Riley had an episode of choking. It is a story I often repeat to remind people that dogs can and will choke on anything. This includes sticks, rocks, kibble, bones, etc, whatever. People often point out that this or that is dangerous because of choking hazards (this pertains to human children as well). But in this instance, Riley choked on a piece of kibble. This becomes particularly important as we have become supporters of raw-feeding for our animals, we get criticism all the time that dogs choke on bones. Yes, they can choke on bones, but they could choke on anything, including kibble.
On this particular day, I lay next to Riley and he became interested in the kibble in his bowl. I think we were feeding him puppy Nutro at the time. I picked out some pieces and hid them in the grass for him to find. It was so cute to watch his big clumsy paws try to dig them out. As one piece went in, he sort of stopped moving. A second or two later, he stood up, head down, gagging, but no sound came out at all. He froze up again and then staggered over onto one side. I had been watching him through this entire episode and now decided to jump in. Although not certified in puppy first aid or CPR, without thinking, I picked him up, held him head down, and gave him a quick thrust up his abdomen right under his rib cage. That piece of kibble immediately came flying out. I know very little about canine digestive systems and don't even know if that is where the diaphram is. But it worked. It shook me up and I remained speechless for the next 15 minutes, rerunning the events that just happened in my mind, wondering what would have happened if nothing came out, if Riley lost consiousness, if I even knew where the closest vet was, if we would have been able to race him there in time. There wasn't anything I could do at the moment to make myself feel better. I just made myself a mental note to always keep one eye on Riley. Nothing is foolproof. Nothing is 100% safe. Riley has not ever had a choking episode ever again, but I continue to watch him like a hawk whenever he is eating anything. I never leave him alone, leave the room, leave the house, cuz anything can happen. And it can happen so fast.
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