You find your dog collapsed and still. No rise in the chest, no response when you say the name. Dog CPR is what you do in the ninety seconds before a vet can take over, and the version below is the one the American Red Cross teaches in its pet first aid courses. Quick version:
- Check responsiveness and look for breathing. If the dog is breathing, do not start compressions.
- Lay the dog on a flat surface and position it for its body shape.
- Push hard and fast, 100 to 120 compressions a minute, a third to half the depth of the chest.
- After 30 compressions, give 2 rescue breaths into the nose.
- Keep the 30:2 cycle going and get to an emergency vet right now, ideally with someone else driving.
This is not a substitute for veterinary care. CPR buys minutes. It does not fix what stopped the heart. Call the nearest emergency vet, tell them you are coming, and head there while you work.
First, check responsiveness, breathing, and pulse
Before you touch the chest, make sure CPR is actually the right move. Say the dog’s name loud and tap a paw or pinch a toe web. A dog that flinches, blinks, or pulls away does not need compressions, and starting them on a beating heart can do real harm. Watch the rib cage for ten seconds. If it rises and falls, the dog is breathing, so skip to keeping the airway clear and driving.
No breathing and no response means you check for a pulse, fast. The easiest spot is the femoral artery, on the inside of a back leg where the thigh meets the body. Press two fingers gently into that crease until you feel the groove between muscle and bone. You are feeling for a beat, not counting beats per minute. Give it ten seconds, no more. If you feel nothing and the dog is out cold and not breathing, start CPR. Hesitating past ten or fifteen seconds costs more than getting it slightly wrong.
One thing to rule out first. If the collapse came on while the dog was eating, gagging, or pawing at its mouth, the problem may be a blocked airway, not a stopped heart. Look in the mouth and sweep out anything obvious. The handling for that is different, so read if your dog is choking for the airway steps. Compressions on a fully blocked windpipe move no air.
When dog CPR is appropriate, and when it is not
CPR is for a dog that is unconscious, not breathing, and has no pulse. That is the whole list. A dog that is breathing on its own, even shallow and slow, gets handled differently, and pressing on a working chest can crack ribs or stop a heart that was limping along fine. If you are unsure whether the heart is beating, the ten-second femoral check is your answer. Found a beat? No compressions. Found nothing? Begin.
If you have never run through the wider sequence, the pet first aid basics are worth a calm read on a normal afternoon, because nobody learns this well while panicking.
Chest compressions, positioned for your dog’s body shape
Get the dog onto a firm, flat surface. A floor works. A bed does not, since it absorbs every push. Now position by chest shape, because this is where most people get it wrong.
- Barrel-chested dogs like bulldogs, pugs, and many bully breeds go on their back. Their chest is roughly as deep front-to-back as it is wide, so you press straight down on the breastbone, the way human CPR works. Steady the dog between your knees if it keeps rolling.
- Keel-chested dogs like greyhounds, dobermans, and most dogs in between go on their side. Find the widest part of the rib cage, which is usually right behind the elbow when the front leg is bent back, and put your hands there. This is the default for the majority of dogs, so if you are not sure which camp your dog is in, go on the side over the widest point of the ribs.
- Flat-chested and small dogs like many terriers and most cats get a one-handed grip, or you wrap one hand around the chest and press with the thumb on one side and fingers on the other, squeezing directly over the heart just behind the front leg.
Stack your palms (or your single hand, for a small dog), lock your elbows, and use your shoulders, not your arms. Push down a third to half the width of the chest and let it spring fully back up between each push. That full recoil is what lets the heart refill, and people who only press halfway up cut the whole thing in half without realizing it.
The rate is 100 to 120 compressions a minute. That is faster than it sounds, close to two pushes every second. The old trick of humming “Stayin’ Alive” lands right in that range. Count out loud in batches of 30 so you do not lose the thread when the rescue breaths interrupt you.
Rescue breaths and the 30:2 cycle
After every 30 compressions, give 2 breaths. Straighten the neck so the airway runs in a line, hold the mouth closed with both hands so no air leaks out the lips, seal your mouth over the nose, and blow until you see the chest rise. Then let it fall and give the second breath. A small dog needs a gentle puff. A mastiff needs a real lungful. You are watching the chest, not blowing on a schedule, so if it does not rise, reposition the neck and check the mouth again before the next try.
Then straight back to compressions. Thirty pushes, two breaths, repeat. Do not stop to admire your work between cycles. The pause to deliver breaths should be short, a few seconds, because every second off the chest drops the pressure you just built.
How long to keep going, and getting to a vet
Recheck for a pulse and breathing about every two minutes, which works out to roughly five or six full cycles. Keep the check to a few seconds. If the dog starts breathing or you feel a steady femoral pulse, stop compressions but stay ready, because a heart that just restarted can quit again.
If nothing changes, keep going. The honest target is to keep CPR running until you hand the dog to a vet who can take over with oxygen, drugs, and a monitor. That is why the single most useful move is to be on the way the entire time. One person drives, one person works the chest in the back seat or footwell, and you call ahead so the clinic is waiting at the door instead of finding out when you walk in. CPR alone reverses very few canine cardiac arrests, so the compressions are the bridge and the vet is the other side.
Common questions about dog CPR
Can you do CPR on a dog?
Yes. The mechanics are the same idea as human CPR, with the hand position adjusted for the dog’s chest shape and the breaths going into the nose instead of the mouth. It is only for a dog that is unconscious, not breathing, and has no pulse. On a dog that is still breathing or still has a heartbeat, leave the chest alone and get to a vet.
How fast should dog CPR compressions be?
100 to 120 a minute, the same rate used for people, which is close to two pushes per second. Push down a third to half the depth of the chest and let it rise all the way back up each time. Faster than that and the heart cannot refill between pushes; slower and you are not moving enough blood.
How do you do CPR on a small dog?
For a small dog or a cat, wrap one hand around the rib cage just behind the front leg and squeeze with the thumb on one side and fingers on the other, directly over the heart, or use one cupped hand if that fits better. Same rate, 100 to 120 a minute. The breaths are a gentle puff into the nose, since a small set of lungs overinflates fast. Then 30:2 and out the door to the vet.