HAPPY HOUNDS FIRST AID TRAINING
Saturday 16th September 2023 our HH team completed an Animal First Aid Course. For some it was a refresher but for some new members of our team it was a brand-new experience. Not only did we all learn something new it was a fantastic team building experience that has strengthened us individually and as a team to help create a safer environment for the dogs in our care and the dogs we see out and about.
The course was held at our daycare centre in Chilcomb and conducted by the wonderful Dog First Aid group, a CPD accredited course (https://www.dog-first-aid.com). This 4 hour intensive course covered a variety of topics, some of which were:
. CPR
. Seizures
. Bleeding/Bandaging
. Canine Shock
. Heat Stroke
. Choking
. GDV (bloat)
...these are just to name a few of the areas that we covered. Not only did we discuss the topics at length, but we then had chance to practice CPR on a dummy dog and even had some real life four legged friends of our own lend a helping paw for us to practice bandaging.
A Dog’s Vital Signs
It’s very common that many of us will have had human first aid training at some point in our lives and know the basic vital signs of humans, but do you know what your dog's vitals are? Every dog is different, vets recommend doing frequent 5-minute check-ins with your dog from snout to tail every week. Knowledge is power and the more we know about our dogs' bodies the easier it is to spot when something has changed or might be wrong. When something goes wrong with humans, we tend to check 3 main things; heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature. I’m sure you guessed it; this is the same for dogs. So, let's talk numbers. A dog's pulse ranges from 40-140bpm, this depends on the size of the dog at hand- the small the dog the quicker the heart rate and vice versa. Respiratory Rate ranges from 8-30 breaths per minute- again the smaller the dog the quicker the breathing. Finally, a healthy dog's temperature should be within 38-39.1 degrees (please note that dogs can communicate temperature to us through visual indicators so unless safe to do so please leave checking temperature to a professional veterinarian).
Pain and GDV (Bloat)
Dogs are clever, no matter how silly or crazy the shenanigans they get up to might be, they are smarter than you think. One of the many skills dogs have acquired is the ability to hide pain, some dogs are better than others at doing this but it's always an important thing to be aware of. A dog in pain might show some of the following physical symptoms: excessive panting when at rest, dribbling, pacing, restlessness, shacking, whimpering/crying, aggressiveness, or a slumped posture (these are just to name a few). Pain can be for so many reasons, some simple and easily treatable, however it can also be an indicator of more serious underlying conditions- an extremely dangerous life threatening one is Gastric Dilatation Volvulus (GDV), also known as bloat. Bloat is generally caused when the air in a dog's stomach becomes trapped, more common in deep chested dogs but can happen to any dog. Usually this occurs from eating too quickly, exercising within 2 hours after a meal, or a dog becoming very nervous/anxious. GDV is extremely painful, alongside the pain your dog might be experiencing a hard, distended stomach, breathing difficulties, retching (no vomit), pale gums, coughing up foam, drooling, and collapsing. If you think your dog is suffering from bloat there is no option for at home first aid, get your dog to the nearest vet NOW. Within 1 hour of bloat starting a dog can die so please don’t waste any time. We can do things to help avoid bloat such as: split meals up over the day so instead of one large meal your dog has 2 little ones, allow constant access to water, don’t exercise after mealtimes (wait at least 2 hours), and wait at least 30 minutes after exercise before feeding.
All the skills our team learnt during this training are temporary life saving measures to buy time and get the animal in crisis to the nearest vets. Where possible contact a vet immediately to let them know you are on your way, this will help things move as quickly and as smoothly as possible, so they are ready and waiting for your arrival. To those who aren't animal first aid trained you can still offer help, if you see someone administering potentially lifesaving first aid and the first aider calls for your help, something as simple as calling the vets to get them ready for your arrival could be the difference between life and death. We are stronger together so let's set ourselves up for the best possible outcome and keep ourselves, those around us, and our four-legged friends as safe as possible.
Below are some fantastic websites and contact numbers which offer help and important information:
Animal Poison Line: 01202 509000
https://www.animalpoisonline.co.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-welfare
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmenvfru/348/348.pdf