5 Things You Should Know – Part 202

Here are 5 things you should know.

1. What to do if your dog is choking.

If your dog is choking, you should know the steps to take to help save its life. Dogs can easily choke on toys, food, bones or other items, and a quick and efficient response is necessary for a potentially life-threatening situation.

1. First, open your dog’s mouth and look for the object. Place one hand on the upper jaw with your thumb on one side and the rest of your fingers on the other side.
2. With your other hand, push down on the lower jaw, keeping your index finger free to sweep back into the mouth. If you can see the object, remove it. If there are two of you, one of you should hold your dog’s mouth open and the other look inside.
3. If that doesn’t work, hold your dog upside down with his tail toward your face. Place your arms around his lower abdomen for 30 seconds while gently swaying him.
4. If that doesn’t work, place your dog on his side on a hard surface, tilted with his head down and hindquarters up. If you can grab a pillow or rolled towel, put it under his hindquarters just make sure the front part of his body is lower than his back.
5. With a small dog, place one hand on his back to steady him and the other under the center of the rib cage. Press in and up four to five times in a thrusting motion. With a large dog, you’ll need both hands for the thrust, so place both hands beneath the rib cage and press in and up four or five times.
6. If you don’t have time to place your dog on his side, you can stand or kneel behind your dog. Grasp his body at the bottom of his rib cage. Apply firm, quick pressure and compress the abdomen by pushing up with your fist(s). Repeat two to five times.
7. If the dog is still choking, a sharp blow with your hand between your pet’s shoulder blades might help dislodge the item.
8. If you are unable to dislodge the object, you may need to perform rescue breathing and CPR, while someone takes you and your dog to a veterinarian or emergency animal clinic.

2. If you throw your back out, don’t tough it out, go to the doctor.

Prompt physical therapy can make a huge difference in how well your spinal cartilage heals in the long term.

3. Equifax will stop offering free removal of credit freezes on June 30th, 2018.

If you would like to save yourself the fee and will need to use your credit in the near future, you will need to un-freeze before this deadline. Below are the details for all three companies:

Equifax: (800) 685-1111

TransUnion: (888) 909-8872

Experian: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html

4. When you are leaving a voicemail that’s going downhill fast that you can rerecord it unlimited times!

You can also listen to your voicemail or even abandon ship altogether and delete it.

Rerecord: # or * (depending on the carrier, but a prompt will tell you so just try both)

Listen to the voicemail: 2 (if nothing happens, # then 2)

Delete: 3 (if nothing happens, # then 3)

5. How to write a check to more than one person.

This is the 21st century, people cohabitate without being married and sometimes maintain separate bank accounts. If you find yourself in the situation where you need to write a check to a couple you should always make it out with an “OR” instead of an “AND” (e.g. John OR Jane Doe, John Doe OR Jane Smith, John Doe OR Joe Smith, Jane Doe OR Joan Roe, etc.) If you write “and” both parties need to sign the check in order to cash it/deposit it. If you use “or” then either party can sign the check and deposit/cash it and need not have a joint account. This is also great because it doesn’t require you to make any assumptions about who controls money, whose names are on the bank accounts, etc. It’s helpful for weddings, baby showers, and any other time when you might have to give money to someone whose financial situation you may not be aware of.