The (near) Death of Mango

Convinced that the map I have for Post Canyon was incorrect, I went out on a run. The idea was to figure out the inconsistencies between my map and real life. Also, I had to train for an upcoming race. Mango and I started up Post Canyon Road, past trails and gates to the trail that I thought would connect us to Spaghetti Factory. We ran a winding loop and ended up back at the road, down hill from where we left it on the trail. Back uphill we went, past the start of the trail we were just on. I figured we would find a trail on the left that would match what I was looking for. There was no such trail so we ran unnecessary miles up the road. We reached upper Post Canyon and I realized we weren’t making any headway so I stopped. Mango was behind me, which is unusual, but we were in the woods so I didn’t worry. We were an hour from the car, the map was still incorrect, and we were running in vain. Last thing I wanted to do was run down the road, but there was no other choice. As I turned around to retreat Mango collapsed.

Not out of exhaustion, her back legs gave out and she hit the ground on her side. She was rubbing her head with her front paws so I picked her up and looked at her. Nothing. I put her back down and she fell onto her side again. That’s when I noticed she wasn’t breathing.

In movies people do the full freak out with situations like this one. Turns out, people in real life do it too. Just not immediately. I picked her up and tried a little doggie Heimlich maneuvering. No, I have never seen it nor have I been instructed how to do it. But the Mango dog and a baby are similar in size so I acted accordingly. Bracing her with my left arm, I firmly slapped her back with my right hand. Nothing came up and there was still no rib movement. I started fully squeezing her ribs. Maybe all her muscle was thwarting my efforts. It still didn’t work and she was looking worse. This is where the freak out happened. We were an hour running time from the car, in the freaking middle of the woods, alone, and without a cell phone. It occurred to me that I could be carrying my best friend to the car, and it would be impossible. I wailed over my friend and tears were streaming down my cheeks. There wasn’t time for this. Mango needed me. I picked her back up and blew into her nose. Her ribs may have moved very slightly but I couldn’t be sure. I was trying to make her gag. Still nothing. I forced her mouth open and pushed my hand into it. She was uncomfortable but I didn’t care. My index finger wiggled around feeling for something. The second time I attempted this, I pulled out a small piece of wood. Mango sat on the ground and choked a few times. Then, like nothing had happened she stood up, wagged her tail, and ran to her beloved stick.

After a brief inspection and deciding Mango was ok to go, we began running back down the road towards the car. In light of the past 5 minutes, I didn’t really mind going down the way we came up. There are worse things. When we neared a hairpin turn I noticed a trail on the right. This would be the only option that could be what we had been looking for, just it was too low according to the map. I asked Mango if she wanted to run. She cocked her head from one side to the other and wagged her tail. I asked her again and she moved around excitedly. Down the trail we went. After a half hour of deciding left or right at forks in the trail, we ended up on Charlie’s Trail. From here, we knew the way back to the car.

Just over two hours after we left the car, Mango and I returned to its side. In our quest we covered some significant ground and I realized how much I love my little dog.