Ever since she was a tiny puppy, Nellie has occasionally had very brief, but sometimes violent, coughing/choking episodes - its like a flurry of hiccups in quick succession, or as if she is trying to breathe in and out rapidly but her breath is catching in her throat.  It can last anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.

It tends to happen at night - she first did it at about 9 weeks old, and it sounded so alarming that it woke me up and I leapt out of bed thinking she was choking.  She wasn't in the least bit distressed - she just sat up, making this odd noise and gazing idly around the room until it stopped.  Then she went back to sleep.

She is now 16 months old, and its happened maybe a dozen times - one or two attacks have sounded truly awful and have woken me up with a fright (she sleeps on our bed, don't shoot me :)) - she doesn't seem bothered, but I sit up with her and stroke her soothingly until it passes!!  It once happened mildly in the vet surgery, and I didn't have the presence of mind to ask the vet about it.

She is otherwise perfectly fit and well, and as its happened very infrequently over her entire lifetime I figured it couldn't be kennel cough. :)  I'm sure the episodes are harmless and don't cause her any distress, but i just wondered what might cause it or if anyone else has ever seen something similar?

has the vet checked her heart for any heart problems ?

Hi Clairey, no not specifically - but she has had regular check ups, and recently had a spay op where I guess they monitored her heart.  Wouldn't any abnormality show up routinely?

My chihuahuas do this noise as do a lot of my friends little dogs, usually we gently rub the throat and calm them down and it stops.

yes they would have picked it up routinely I would have thought.

We call it reverse sneezing in our breed.

Reverse sneezing?  Really?  Never thought of it like that.......we call it hiccoughing!!

Well, i guess its just one of those things.  I've never been concerned about it as she's a fit dog, but she does sometimes give me a fright in the night doing it! 

A friend of mines min pin does this alot, it happens most when he gets excited,he goes to bark and starts snorting alot, they told me it was his windpipe sucking in on itself because he had tried to draw too  big a breath before barking and that to stop it from going on they cover his nostrils for a few seconds with thier fingers and it stops. I dont know if they were told to do this by a vet or if its just something they do thinking it helps. They also said he cant wear a collar because it causes it so he always wears a harness now. Dont take any of this as fact though as they might be completly wrong.

My daxi does it occasionaly If it goes on for awhile I rub her throat .

our boston terrier also does the reverse sneezing so i either put my finger across her nose so she has to breathe through her mouth or i know this is really awful and that is to gently blow in her mouth (i hasten to add this is a last resort as she does favour the cats tray at the moment).i am not sure as to the breed you have but with many short nose dogs it is very common one of our boxers also done this. my vet told me it is where the larynx gets hooked over the soft palette it can happen on exercise excitement or even if they snore as both my breeds do like old men that have had a skin full hope all is well with her.