The boxer who gained internet fame after his taped resuscitation went viral collapsed again on Monday. This time he could not be revived by CPR.
Last week we showed the dramatic footage of Ron Pace, a well-known dog trainer, attempting CPR on a collapsed boxer, Sugar, as Sugar’s owner wailed with grief in the background. Pace had no CPR training, but did what he could when the dog collapsed during a training session. And miraculously, Sugar came to. It looked like the CPR worked. We used this as an excuse to remind readers how important it is to learn doggy CPR. Check out the post if you want some links to good resources for learning CPR.
Sadly, 10 days later, Sugar collapsed and died of the heart problem that almost killed him last week. Veterinarian Nancy Kay, author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life, told Dogster at the time that “Sugar likely has a heart condition called Boxer cardiomyopathy- the heart rhythm ‘goes south’ and is a common cause of sudden death.”
Sugar’s owner, Tiffany Kauth, is understandably very upset, but grateful for the extra 10 days she had with Sugar. She told Pace that she “treated Sugar like a king and had a lot of fun with him the last 10 days, Pace said in a story in The News Tribune. She was hoping for many more years, he said, but glad at least that she had had some warning. She was too distraught to talk to reporters from the Tribune.
Last week I sent the CPR video to blog pal Dr. Eric Barchas, Dogster’s very own veterinary blogger:. Unfortunately it was rather last minute, and his comments didn’t make it by my deadline for the post. But now that we’re writing about Sugar again, here’s what he said.
“I’m very happy that the dog recovered, but I believe that the trainer’s resuscitative efforts had almost nothing to do with the recovery. Rather, the collapse (which appears to have been caused by a type of heart condition that is common in Boxers) lead to a near-fatal (but fortunately non-fatal) episode from which the dog recovered spontaneously. Tragically, the heart condition most likely will lead to a fatal episode in the future.
“Of course, I do commend the dog trainer for his calmness and presence of mind. And I don’t expect him or anyone without specific training to understand the intricacies of performing canine CPR. However, I think it is slightly inappropriate to say that this is a video of canine CPR. Rather, it is a video of a frightening canine collapse and spontaneous recovery.”
RIP Sugar. We’re glad you got to go out in the style of a king.
7 thoughts on “Dog Whose CPR “Rescue” Went Viral Dies 10 Days Later”
I personally think we should all look at the positive side of every situation. Pace did his very best for the dog ( the human factor ), Tiffany has 10 days more with her boxer Sugar ( the love factor ) and the vet Dr Eric gave us the facts ( the fact factor ), all of which should be acceptable to all of us ! Yhe world is still good !
I’m just truly shocked about how all of this works the month did the something good at least he done something and everyone now just look everyone and so sad please have faith in people, places, God and your family or friends
The article was going well until you exposed your conceited arrogant and stupid remark at the end. A human being did something good and the video went viral. There is hope on this world that good deeds and good people exist and this video brought smiles to many. But for dark souls like yours that is far from your grasp.
You’re upset because a medical professional pointed out what the trainer did had no positive effect on the dog?? Well he might of tried to do something good, but his CPR rate was way too slow to have any positive benefit to the dog. The rate of CPR is 100 compressions per minute. He also didn’t give the dog any rescue breaths. Next time don’t get so pissy about things you don’t understand.
I found the comments from the Veterinarian quite typical of what I expected to hear from him. Basically he is saying (in my opinion), unless you are a trained Veterinarian, your efforts were inconsequential in the dog coming back to consciousness/life, and basically played no part of the outcome. In other words, you could have sat back and read a book for a while and the dog would have come back all on his own! Sure was what I expected to see! I’ve got to go puke now!!
What do you mean? He’s right, the CPR would have been way too slow for even normal humans and dogs have an even higher heartrate. Kudos to his efforts, but his CPR did nothing.
Very well said