“My puppy is choking!” — Or is it?

One of the most common messages I receive from new puppy owners starts with something like:

“Natalia, my puppy just made the strangest noise! It looked like he couldn’t breathe!”

If you’ve never owned a small breed dog before, seeing your puppy suddenly start making loud snorting sounds can be genuinely frightening. It often looks as though they’re trying to sneeze while breathing in, or as if they’re choking and can’t catch their breath.

Take a deep breath—what you’re most likely seeing is reverse sneezing.

Despite how dramatic it looks, reverse sneezing is a very common and completely normal quirk in many toy and small breed dogs. It’s caused by a brief spasm of the soft palate and throat, usually because these tiny dogs have particularly sensitive upper airways.

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Episodes can be triggered by all sorts of everyday things:

•  excitement​

•  breathing in dust or pollen

•  eating or drinking too enthusiastically

Most episodes only last a few seconds and stop all by themselves.

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If your dog has a longer episode, there is a simple trick that often helps. Gently close your dog’s nostrils for about 10 seconds. This encourages them to swallow, helps reset their breathing pattern and usually stops the spasm.

The most important thing is to stay calm. Your dog isn’t suffocating, and panicking won’t help either of you.

Of course, if episodes become very frequent, last unusually long, or are accompanied by coughing, nasal discharge, difficulty breathing between episodes or any other signs of illness, your veterinarian should examine your dog to make sure something else isn’t going on.

But for the vast majority of little dogs, reverse sneezing is simply one of those strange habits that looks terrifying the first time you see it—and then becomes just another part of life with a small dog.