Caution: Bulldogs Can Die in the Heat!

The Derrick: "Pig, a 9-month-old English bulldog, passed out on stage from the sweltering heat.
Marissa McFarland, an Oil City dog and cat groomer, was in the audience to relax and enjoy the show when she saw the judges lift a motionless Pig from the stage.
'She was so cute when she first arrived, strutting in there with her heinie wiggling, but then I think the heat just got to her. When they carried her past us I could see that her tongue was blue and she wasn't breathing,' McFarland said.
McFarland was trained in canine CPR while in grooming school in Indiana, Pa., and she wasted no time taking control of the situation by giving Pig mouth-to-snout resuscitation.
'I ran up, put her on the ground, and just did what I was trained to do. I couldn't have done it without my husband Gary. He was there coaxing the dog to come back to us. Everyone was very helpful, pulling together and getting me everything I needed,' she said.
Joan Loeffler of the Humane Society was at the pet show and witnessed McFarland's heroics.
'I've never seen anything quite like it. She worked so hard to bring that dog back, and that was a big mouth to cover,' Loeffler said.
Loeffler said the Humane Society has held the show annually for many years, but this was the first time a dog collapsed on stage.
'We're going to have to have Marissa at all of our shows from now on,' Loeffler concluded with a laugh.
Once Pig started breathing again, McFarland and the dog's owner took her to the Franklin Animal Clinic, where she was treated and released that night. McFarland said she is waiting to hear from Pig's owners to see if she's still OK. Because of confidentiality laws, the identity of the dog's owners has not been released.
'Bulldogs can't handle the heat, and especially not the humidity,'

--a happy ending this time . . .
E.S.