Check colour of gums. If something is restricting the dog’s airway, the gums will go blue. If there is no circulation (cardiac arrest) the gums go pale.

To check if the dog is conscious, touch its eye. If it blinks, it is awake. If not, it means it is unconscious.

A dog’s heart is just behind its elbow. On a small dog you can place entire hand around the chest to feel it. On medium and large dogs, place a hand on each side of the chest and feel the heartbeat.

The pulse in dogs can be found inside its back leg - it’s the femoral pulse. Over the femur (largest bone in the thigh of the back leg) is the femoral artery. Pop a hand on the inside of the leg to feel the pulse. If the heart is weak, there may be a faint heartbeat, but no pulse.

If the dog is not breathing, do mouth to nose resuscitation. A dog’s mouth and jaw is too long and big to be able to do mouth to mouth.

Don’t be squeamish! Pull tongue forward, hold mouth firmly shut and blow down the dog’s nose, until you see the chest wall rise. Give 7-10 good breaths, then check for breathing again. If still no breathing, repeat the process, and carry on doing this until you either get the dog to the vet’s, or emergency help arrives.

Cardiac Massage: do roughly one beat per second, but don’t do it too fast. On a small dog, squeeze the chest one-handed. Medium dog, squeeze with two hands. Large dog, squeeze hard with two hands, or even punch. Do this for five minutes.

Heimlich Manoeuvre, or Drowning: small dogs: hold up by legs and slap back of ribs or squeeze with both hands. Medium to large dogs: punch up and in, just below ribs in mid-line, and vigorously squeeze as a hug.

Heat stroke: Rectal temp 40°C+ (104-105°F).
Many causes of this, including: hot cars, hot days, long walk, excessive panting.
Signs include: compromised general health, extended neck, blue tongue/gums, frantic behaviour, collapse.
Treatment: Anything to cool dog down; ice pack, stream, hose pipe, cold bath water, shade, wrap in wet towels during transportation to the vet. Get to vet quickly.

Hypothermia: Cold extremities, dull, lethargic, shaking/shivering, slow pulse.
Treatment: warm bath, blankets, vigorous rubbing esp. extremities, rub in oil when reddened. Get to the vets for warm I/V fluids.

Burns:
First degree: reddening.
Second degree: blistering.
Third degree: full thickness skin loss.
Treatment: copious amounts of water and no insulators (oil/butter/etc).

Electric shock: remove from source and don’t make situation worse.
Resuscitation: cardiac and repertory.
Exit burns are often found through the pads of the feet; treat as burns.

Convulsions: signs: loss of consciousness, dog lying on its side, legs stretched out (in spasm), salivation and urination. The convulsions usually last no more than 4-5 minutes. Any longer than that call the vet immediately. Recovery time is variable. Don’t touch the dog (initially) as this could cause more harm and distress the dog even more. Keep calm.
Causes and treatment:
Epilepsy: talk calmly and reassuringly in a well lit room.
Hypoglycaemia: glucose/sugar.
Heatstroke: cool down.
Other causes, poisoning, calcium deficiency, liver problems, etc.

Paralysis: Is it generalised or localised? Stabilise the dog as much as possible, without causing undue distress, and support the head and neck as much as possible. A good make-shift stretcher is two brooms and a shirt. Put a broom down through each armhole and button up the shirt.

Snake Bites: March-May is the most common times for these as it’s the breeding and laying of eggs season. You might see a snake basking early in the morning (often a pregnant female). They will run away if they spot you or your dog, but if they are not fast enough, they will bite.
Usually strike the dog’s paw or leg, which will cause swelling. The venom is toxic but merely causes tissue damage and is very rarely fatal (hardly ever).
Treatment: Piriton is a very good anti-histamine, readily available off-the-shelf at chemists, etc. Give the dog some straight away. They come in 4mg tablets. Dosage: 2-4mg for small dogs. 4-8mg for larger dogs.

Bee and Wasp stings:
Treatment: wasp stings - vinegar or lemon juice (acid, as wasp stings are alkaline).
Bee stings - bicarbonate of soda (alkaline, as bee stings are acid).

Poisoning: dull/just not himself. Shaking/shivering, weakness. Fitting.
Many things are toxic to dogs, including onions, grapes, raisins and sultanas, flower bulbs, some mulch (contains cocoa), slug pellets, rat poison, etc, etc. And of course chocolate. Fatal doses: dark chocolate - 60-200g, milk chocolate - 450-600g; 100mg/kg is the fatal dose.
Treatment: make the dog vomit (but not if bleach, or anything caustic, or this will damage oesophagus, etc again on the way up). Good ways to induce vomiting: use washing powder on the back of the tongue, or washing soda crystals. Sodium carbonate, in other words. DO NOT use if you suspect it contains caustic or corrosive agents.

Fish hooks: cut with wire cutters and remove two halves.

Fishing line, thread, etc: Often gets caught under the tongue, while the other end works its way through the stomach and the intestines. It causes the intestines to concertina, so never cut the line/thread - far safer for the vet to remove as a whole, and trace its progress through the dog’s body.