A pet owner's dramatic rescue of her dog, who had been choking on food, has been applauded by viewers online.

Tracy Jurowicz, who is known online as @chick_choices, had captured the terrifying moment her senior dog, Dawkins, began choking on the crumbs of a milk bone on an at-home security camera. The video, which was shared to her Instagram account, shows Dawkins, a double amputee, struggling in the corner of a room at their New Jersey home, his movements suddenly frantic. Another dog wanders nearby as Jurowicz, who had been seated on a couch, rushes to intervene. She reaches Dawkins in time to remove the obstruction, and after a few tense moments, the dog begins to recover.

The severity of the situation has resonated with pet owners across the platform. Over 1.6 million viewers have now seen Dawkins' experience, which serves as a stark reminder of how quickly an everyday activity can turn dangerous for pets.

"I shared the video in hopes that pet owners would realize animals can easily choke on anything," Jurowicz, 47, told Newsweek. "I was so happy to see it was widely shared and reached over a million views because that means more pet owners are now aware and some even looked up how to save their animals while choking.

"It makes me tear up thinking that this video may now have saved some animals in the future!"

Jurowicz had shared an important safety message overlaid on the video: "This was beyond scary, Dawkins gave no warning, no sound, he was choking on crumbs of a milk bone… [I] proceeded to try and dislodge his throat, if you have animals please learn how to save them when choking."

"Dawkins is 10 and because he is a double amputee pup he always eats laying down," she said. "He eats at odd hours because, well, he rules the house.

"After his dinner he gets a snack and that night I gave him milk bones. As I sat there mindlessly scrolling through social media, he was eating them and I guess they were to dry and he couldn't swallow them and they got stuck."

The pet owner went on to say that Dawkins did not make any noise while choking on the snack, and that if she had not seen him from the corner of her eye, he would have passed away.

"When I saw him I immediately jumped up, ran over to him and once I got there I heard a little gasp, so I tried to reposition him, started hitting him on the back and started the Heinrich maneuver," she said. "I did it twice, or three times, before I heard him cough up and chew. That's when I stopped and bent over because I felt like my heart was going to stop."

The dog eventually started to breathe normally and have some water.

"I just breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't die," Jurowicz said.

The video has ignited a wave of reactions from viewers, many of whom have praised Jurowicz for stepping in so effectively.

"Please do a video showing how to save them when choking! Thank God you were right there for him," one viewer said.

Another added: "Poor dog, just plopped over and accepted his fate. Lucky you were there to save him."

The Heimlich maneuver, a first aid procedure used to treat choking, is a life-saving technique that can also be adapted for dogs. For humans, the procedure involves abdominal thrusts to expel the lodged object, typically performed by standing behind the person and applying pressure just above the navel.

In dogs, the technique varies slightly based on the animal's size; for larger dogs, the owner can stand behind the dog, wrap their arms around the animal's waist, and apply quick, forceful abdominal thrusts. For smaller dogs, lifting them and applying pressure to the area just below the rib cage can help expel the obstruction.

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