We're certified.....

Yes, we are certified. Of course, most of my friends would say I'm certifiably NUTS. But, tonight, Mr. B and I had an evening out. We ran a few errands, and.......well.....

had another adventure. And I will admit, this adventure was more fun than the car Cemetary!

We've been tossing lots of crazy ideas around lately. Some have been possible income producing ideas......some have been just fun or silly things to do (although I'm not sure refinishing the kitchen cabinets comes under either category, "fun" or "silly").

Tonight, after we got errands accomplished, we headed over to take a class together. We took that three hour class, and at the end, we took a test.....

I didn't tell anyone I was going to do this, except daughter Karen, in case I......well.... failed. That would have been embarrassing!

But hey, we passed. We were certified by the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross......















In Pet First Aid (CPR) for Cats and Dogs!

I can't believe how much information they packed into that class. It was held in a veterinary hospital. Our teachers were excellent. We got a book and DVD to review that will help reinforce what we learned. And we learned a LOT. Our teachers had worked at this veterinary office for quite a few years, and it was obvious they really cared about what they were sharing with us.

Nearly everyone I know professes to be a dog or cat lover. And peoples, these little furbabies (or in the case of Max the Wuss, BIG furbabies) are kind of dumb. Sometimes they redefine dumb. They get into things that can cut or burn them, they eat things that can make them sick, they fall, they get hit by cars, they get sick, they have seizures, they get snakebit or stung, they catch germs that could kill them......

And I had no clue what to do if anything happened to one of the dogs at our house. So we decided to take the course.

Afterwards, we got tested. We had seen various things illustrated during class with the use of Jerry, a large floppy stuffed dog. After class, we got to meet Jerry, up close and personal. We had to review exactly what we would do, if Jerry was really "down".

The ABCs (just like for human CPR) of airway, breathing, and circulation were to be checked. We now know more about how to clear an airway, how to check for any breathing, and where to check for pulses on our dogs (along the femoral arteries, for instance) .....

















If those were all negative, we needed to give Jerry four or five "rescue" breaths, to see if we could jump start him, so to speak. Notice the plastic lung hanging out of Jerry's chest. Our teacher covered Jerry's mouth/nose with a plastic mouth sheet to protect us from each other's "cooties"......and we tried to get enough air blowing in Jerry's nose to inflate the "lung".















If the rescue breaths failed, which was determined by repeating the ABCs check, then we moved on to CPR. Sadly, none of us could get Jerry moving with just the "rescue" breaths.....















So chest compressions, five rapid ones, alternating with breathing, were given.

Notice how hard I'm trying - I'm a blur of motion between compressions and breaths.

(You would think, as full of hot air as I am, that this would have been a little easier for me!)















It was not as easy as it looked! Especially when she tucked the lung back inside under his fur and I couldn't really tell how I was doing!

Poor Jerry. We tried really hard. All 9 or 10 of us. He didn't make it. But we did!

We passed and we have the certification card to prove it!

Seriously, if you really love animals and want to know how to help your pet when he can't help himself......this class is truly helpful. The teachers thanked us for coming out on our Sunday night to learn about this, but as Mr. B said, we should be thanking them. They give up lots of Sunday nights this way!


If anyone is interested, the number to get information about the next class, or to speak with Trina (the lady in the pix with me) is 949-586-4250. I really recommend it!