Family from Pittsburgh spreading awareness after beloved dog dies of suffocation from chip bag
By Web Staff
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PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — A family from Pittsburgh who now lives in Florida is sharing their story after losing their beloved family dog because of something that many people have in their homes and sometimes leave out.
“I love chocolate labs. They are my absolute favorite,” Holly Best said.
The whole family quickly fell in love with their new puppy Scout, when Holly and Brian Best brought him home.
“He was always so sweet to everyone,” 14-year-old Ceci Best said.
Months after falling in love with Scout, the family said something tragic happened.
“I was in disbelief. I still am in disbelief that it happened. We thought we did everything right,” Holly Best said.
The incident happened after the family fell asleep on New Year’s Eve.
“We never thought twice about leaving a bag of potato chips out,” Brian Best said.
Brian Best said he woke up to find their dog Scout had a bag of chips over his head.
“He was laying on the ground motionless,” Brian Best said. “He’s stuck in a potato chip bag.”
“When he came into the room he was in a full-fledged panic attack and at first he told me Scout died and I’m thinking, how? He’s in the house,” Holly Best said.
Scout had suffocated.
“I was just speechless after it and when I told my friends, I said Scout passed away in a bag of chips,” 12-year-old Tyson Best said.
“It was heartbreaking because we didn’t expect it. He was perfectly fine the night before,” Ceci Best said.
“I was more concerned about him choking on a dog treat or a rawhide but not in a million years did I think a chip bag,” Holly Best said.
The family was desperate for answers, and after a Google search, Holly Best found a website called “Prevent Pet Suffocation” that a woman named Bonnie Harlan created during her time of grief.
“Over and over again people say to me ‘I’ve never heard of this’ I had no idea until it happened to their pet,” said Bonnie Harlan, who lost a dog to suffocation.
The same thing that happened to Scout happened to Bonnie’s rescue dog Blue back in 2011 in Texas.
“From afar I could see he had a Cheetos chip bag over his head and he wasn’t moving and in that brief second I just knew he had suffocated in this chip bag,” Harlan said.
Bonnie’s vet quickly rushed over to her house.
“And of course, I was hysterical crying and he said you know Bonnie, I could have warned you about 100 things and a chip bag wouldn’t have been on the list. He had never heard of it either,” Harlan said.
The Best family said their veterinarian also hadn’t heard about snack bags being a danger to dogs or other animals.
“It creates a vacuum seal around their neck and as they continue to breathe the vacuum-like seal gets tighter,” Holly Best said.
The American Veterinary Medical Association details the warning on its website.
Bonnie Harlan now uses her website to help educate pet families and show the images of some of the 1,500 dogs she’s learned of dying this way in the past decade.
“I hear from three or four devastated pet owners a week typically,” Harlan said.
“As a mom, you’re guilt-ridden because your job is to protect your babies and the dogs are included in our case,” Holly Best said.
Now the goal is to help spread awareness.
“Whether we save one dog or 100,000 dogs,” Brian Best said.
The family is now fighting to do so in Scout’s honor.
There are several things people can do to make their home safer and avoid a pet tragedy like this, including dumping all of your chips into containers, cutting up the chip bags into tiny pieces before throwing them away and learning helpful tips like pet CPR.
On a happier note, the Best family said they have adopted a new dog for their home.
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