Larry and I were sitting in the living room chatting as Buster, our loveable canine child, was having his lunch just 10 feet or so from us. I look up at one point and Buster is standing with his mouth wide open like he is going to hurl. He has a bad habit of inhaling his food rather than chewing it and my first thought was 'great. He is 6 inches from tiled floor yet he is locked, loaded and zeroed in on the carpeting'. When nothing came flying from his mouth even though it appeared he was trying harder, I suddenly realized that he was most likely choking. I stopped Larry in mid sentence and yelled to Buster "Are you ok?" as if he was going to look at me and shake his head no or stick a paw up and flash me the OK sign. About that time whatever was lodged came loose and he indeed hit the carpet. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran for the paper towels. "I was afraid I was going to have to perform the heimlich on Buster" I hollered to Larry as I was digging for the can of carpet cleaner. "And I don't think I even know how to do the heimlich on a dog, do you?" "Sure I do", he answered. "Just lift his tail and lick". As Buster decided he didn't need my help cleaning up his mess and did it himself, I stood in the kitchen trying to figure out if Larry was being cute, needed a hearing aid or if he had just had a mental snap. "Um, babe, I don't understand. What did you just say?" "I said, just lift his tail and lick. You know. The Hinny Lick maneuver".
I honestly hope that if I am ever choking on a foreign object, there is someone standing closer to me than Larry.
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