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How to save a dog's life with CPR

Following these steps could save your pet's life.

NEW ORLEANS — After first responders saved the life of a New Orleans dog named Brees during a fire, pet owners are wondering what they can do to keep their pets safe.

RELATED: First responders save 'Brees' the dog from Esplanade fire

Eyewitness Reporter Meg Farris visited Dr. Clare Guichard, a veterinarian at Lakeview Veterinary Hospital who demonstrates CPR on Molly-Ann, Farris' Louisiana Catahoula.

The Steps

- Lay the dog down on its right side. This will put its left side up, where the heart is accessible.

- Put your hand in front of the dog’s nose to check for airflow. Make sure the chest is falling and rising to know that the dog is breathing.

- Check the dog’s pulse in the following three ways:

                1. Take their back leg and slide your hand up to where the leg meets the body and gently press down in the corner with your fingers. You should feel a thumping underneath if they have a pulse.

                2. Feel on their chest, placing a thumb on either side for a heartbeat.

                3. Bend the front leg and where the elbow sits where you bend it is exactly where the heart should be.

- Stretch out the head so that the airway is a straight shot. If you bend the head downways, you could kink the airway off. While you’re there, make sure the tongue is pink and pull it out of the mouth so its not blocking the airway.

- Put palms, one over the other, where the dog’s ribs are and press down with straight elbows to the beat of “Staying Alive,” similar to human CPR.

- After about 15 chest compressions, with the dog’s neck stretched out, put your mouth over the snout of the dog, over the whole lip, and breathe with enough force so you see the chest move up.   

CPR can lead to break ribs and bruising with the force sometimes necessary to save a pet. Do not practice on healthy animals.

The best chance, always, is to get your pet to an animal hospital as quickly as possible.

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