Very scary moment with Seren.

So after all this heat now we have COLD and rain. I decided to bring the horses in and Seren and Dekka were with me. Pan, one of the horses, was being a bit of a ditz to bring in. I get her in and convince her that the stall is not going to eat her The rain is so heavy its deafeningly loud on the tin roof of the barn. I then realize I hear dogs fighting in a stall.

I go and there are Dekka and Seren latched on to each other. I have no idea how long they have been going at it, but there is a little blood and they seem quite into it. (Often they stop little scraps if I yell Leave It!) I grab collars and start getting them apart. I get them apart and Seren falls over unconcious (To be honest I thought Dead!!)

I clip Dekka to a cross tie and rush back into the stall. Seren is not breathing. Her heart beat was faint but there. I did take a pet first aid course, but that was 6 years ago!. I straightened her out and did a few chest compressions (figured that would move her lungs too) I have no idea if what I did helped but it was a good solid 45-60 seconds of no breathing before she began gasping.

She lies there and gasps a minuted and then gets up and staggers around. I tried to get her to stay still and not crash into things. I didn't want to pick her up in case she was somehow more hurt than I could tell. I grabbed Dekka so she wouldn't go after Seren if she staggered near. Seren quickly got back to normal and is her wiggly self.

I took both into the house and cleaned them up. I have no idea what happened. As is typical, there are no real injuries. All the blood seems to have come from a tiny cut on Dekka's ear. That seems to be it. No holes (and Dekka was hanging on to Seren's front leg with serious grip shaking like terriers do with determination) even though they had been going at it for a while.

Any idea what could cause a dog to pass out and stop breathing in what essentially was just a scuffle?

This was all about an hour ago and Seren seems perfectly normal (well as normal as she ever gets) I have her in a crate just in case...

Maybe she got the wind knocked out of her somehow?

That would scare the hell out of me too (((((HUGS))))

I was going to guess that, too Renee. Yikes! Scary -- glad she seems to be okay!

Eeek! My first thought was a heart issue - lots of exertion plus stress could certainly trigger something like that, especially the severity you describe. I wouldn't think getting the wind knocked out of her would cause complete stoppage of breathing.

She does get overly excited easily hmm.. The dumb thing is she starts the scraps 99% of the time. Dekka actually likes her. Seren has an issue with Dekka jumping up on things or being held by people. I am wondering if Dekka was trying to jump up and see if there was horse food in the bucket.

I am so glad she is ok. I was so sure she was Dead! I will have to get her heart thoroughly checked out.

Oh I wouldn't have thought of that but it definitely seems plausible.

Dekka, I would have been freaking out so good for you for having the presence of mind to actually do something!! I'm glad she's acting normal again!

Oh my goodness! Poor Seren. I too would worry about heart. If she'd been injured by getting banged into something I wouldn't think she'd recover so well. I'm so glad that she seems ok now. I've come to like the little rascal.

On the wind thing... I've had the wind knocked out of me a couple of times and you REALLY can't breathe when it happens. You are just stuck, still and can't move or react at all. It is possible.

That's why it occurred to me, too, Freehold. You really are stuck. Not a fun sensation at all.

JRTs seem to recover quickly. I have had a few over the years get hurt (like Dekka being kicked in the head hard enough to break both sides of her cheekbone) and they seem to get up and shake it off.

But my thought on the wind thing. She was conscious when I pulled them apart, THEN fell over unmoving. If she had the wind knocked out of her wouldn't stop moving at that point. Or could she have lost consciousness from lack of being able to breathe?

I have let her out of her crate, she and Dekka are fine. Terriers I did find a couple of punctures on her leg now that I have been poking and prodding. But nothing serious.

We had a dog fight at the park a while back a Collie and a Sibe. The Sibe was attacking the Collie and the Collie collapsed, stopped breathing for like 20-30 seconds and when he started, he seized for a bit and couldn't move for about 10 min. Could it be something similar?? They never did figure out what happened to the Collie.

OMG hope siren is ok, if a vet visit is in your future I hope it turns out ok.

Glad she's doing better! Terrier fights are no fun... I have never had one do that though, so no advice there...

She could well have lost consciousness from lack of breathing.

Lack of breathing plus adrenaline maybe? I almost passed out after the dog fight I got bit in - I don't know if it's the same for animals though.

I would have her heart checked out too, especially if you are considering breeding her. How scary!

How scary! Thankfully she is OK. I'd probably be a worrywart too & have her heart checked out just to be on the safe side.

This is why terriers are so weird. I took this a min ago.. Yup they are sleeping all snuggled together.



Thanks everyone. I was so sure she was dead there for a bit. It felt like my heart stopped too.