A US firefighter has been praised for giving a dog 20
minutes of "mouth-to-snout" resuscitation after the animal was
rescued from a house fire.
The dog was overcome by the heat and smoke of the blaze in Santa
Monica, California, and was unresponsive.
But firefighter Andrew Klein managed to bring 10-year-old Nalu,
a Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu, "back from the dead".
Mr Klein discovered Nalu unconscious in a back bedroom after
crawling on all fours into the blazing apartment
"He was totally lifeless," the firefighter told the Associated
Press news agency. "I picked him up and ran out of the apartment
because time is key, especially with a small dog... Failure was not
an option.''
As the dog's distraught owner Crystal Lamirande knelt crying
nearby, Mr Klein and his crew spent the next 20 minutes giving the
dog oxygen and performing "mouth-to-snout" resuscitation.
"After 20 minutes, the dog began breathing on its own and
regained consciousness, even regaining the ability to walk around,"
the Santa Monica Fire Dept said in a press release.
Nalu has now fully recovered after spending 24 hours in an
oxygen tent.
Ms Lamirande, a radiology nurse, said she was overwhelmed by the
effort made by Mr Klein and his team to save her dog.
"His eyes were glazed over and he was not breathing and I
assumed he was dead," she said. "But the firefighter said 'I'm a
positive person. Let's just get him back'."