Is dry drowning a thing in dogs?

[SmolkedSamon]

My tiny little scrappy terrier has just got in a fight with the garden sprinkler (which was on quite a concentrated setting). It was for a few seconds (maybe 30?) and she stopped and heaved a few times. I’m now panicking about secondary / dry drowning. Is this a thing with dogs? She’s since eaten her dinner and is lying next to me chewing a toy - but I’m paranoid that shes inhaled water and it’s dangerous. Is this a common thing in dogs? I can’t seem to find much information from a reliable source….

My old Greek dog jumped into a big water tank by mistake and it took a few mins to find what happened to her. When I ran past it in my search there was no sign of her then I heard a splash and I rushed back to find her surfacing and clinging by her front claws to a small cement outcrop. I just managed to lie flat and stretch my fingertips under her collar and haul her back onto the ground. We were 20 miles from any vet up a Greek mountain with no transport. A her initial grateful joy at being back on dry land we had to walk home to my village (@about 45 mins). She was very tired and obviously felt unwell when we got home but she slept for 30 mins or so and gradually recovered enough to eat some supper. She was fine next day (so relieved!). Yes they can get secondary drowning but I expect your dog has now recovered, since she has eaten and playing. Just keep an eye on her so you are ready to go to the vet if anything looks wrong.

Gosh that must have been scary for you! So glad she was ok!

yes mine seems like she’s back to her normal playful self now. Just got into a bit of worry as she was heaving and sorry for herself for a few mins

One of my dogs nearly drowned when he was young. He jumped into deep water by mistake and was trying to swim vertically but was going under a lot. Got him out and he was fine after he’d got over the initial scare.
Hope your dog is ok!

Oh blimey, so scary for you! I feel like a bit of a plonker now as mine just went nuts at the sprinkler for 30 seconds. It would be a really stupid way for her to go (although she is fairly stupid, bless her).

I was listening to a true crime podcast where they were interviewing experts and apparently dry drowning is a myth. There’s no good evidence for it despite it having gained some traction with some experts and the general public in recent years.

Had a quick google and there’s various reliable sites that come up explaining it such as this:

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/resources/articles/dry-or-delayed-secondary-drowning?srsltid=AfmBOorbreiKry6_RmCXaP78wjvlbcQcT_Wk4ubw0A2CJQFH773mQg23

Water intoxication is more of a thing for dogs playing with sprinklers/hoses.

https://www.pdsa.org.uk/what-we-do/blog/what-is-water-intoxication-in-dogs-and-why-is-it-dangerous