The American Beagler Forum

I took out my older ,overweight dog last night in the evening when it was cooler. He didnt do much at all , just trotted around. I was monitoring his movement with the garmin so i wasnt worried he was overdoing it. He was only out for 20 minutes when I called him in. He was about 50 feet from me and I could hear him wheezing very loudly. When i got to him he fell on the ground and his tongue and gums were real blue. He couldnt get any air. I looked in his throat to see if he had something wedged inside but nothing. He was like a person having an asthma attack. He laid there gasping for awhile, it felt like forever but was probably only 5 to 10 minutes. I thought for sure he was dieing. Then he started breathing better and within a few minutes his tongue and gums were back to red again. He then recovered pretty quick and was back to normal bouncing around within 1/2 an hour. I was told it sounded like a collapsed trachea. He never coughs and he didnt after his attack last night. Can dogs develop asthma? I didnt see any bites , and there was no swelling. His collars were loose. That was the first thing i checked when I got to him.
Any ideas or remedies? I am afraid to let him do anything now.

I think the anwser is in your first sentence. Overweight! Heat and overweight will kill one in a heatbeat. Ran with one a few weeks ago and did the same thing. It is better to have them too lean then too fat. If they are over weight then they are out of shape as well, which is a double whammy.
Put the dog on a extreme diet and start their exercise slowly.

hounddog
Jim Umbarger

I agree with hounddog,
I had one that did that once on me. she was overweight, and got in some really tall grass. the heat was greater in it than out in the woods where I was standing. I have found that it will happen more often after the first time. just try to cut times down. if 20 min made it that way try ten to start. slowly build it up. I can now run that bitch about an hour if the weather is over 70. much more than that, you can tell it is starting to bother her.
just my observations.
Jamey

Check for heart worms too.

Too fat and probably too hot. But it could be heart worms also.