08/31/2026
I apologize ahead of time if this post rambles or seems like disorganized thought ( because some of it is ).
I want to talk about Dummy’s
Is there such a things as a dummy puppy? It’s not something that is ever talked about that I know of when it comes to newborn puppies.
Now before anyone gets bent out of shape, the “ Dummy “ term is not a demeaning and insulting term. This is pertaining to the veterinary medical term “ Dummy” which is neonatal maladjustment syndrome.
Horse breeders know this term well,
neonatal maladjustment syndrome, or a “ Dummy foal”. They appear healthy when they are born, but shortly thereafter exhibit neurological abnormalities. They are often detached, disoriented, unresponsive, confused, and have trouble nursing.
The “Madigan Squeeze Technique” is an approach developed by UC Davis veterinarian and equine neonatal expert Dr. John Madigan to treat “dummy foals”. Madigan postulates that the journey through the birth canal activates a biochemical switch that enables newborns to transition from a calm, sedative state in the womb to alert consciousness. In cases where this physical transition does not occur, the newborn remains in the quiet state they experienced in the womb. The MST acts to simulate the physical pressure of the birth canal and “activate the switch” to an alert state. This lack of physical transition happens sometimes during a C section, a fast birth or a very slow birth. Where they don’t get “ squeezed “ correctly as they pass through the birth canal.
This happens in foals, but there is also cases of it happening in calves and even records of it in goats. So why can’t this happen to puppies? Makes sense to me that it absolutely can! Because why can it not????
So now onto my experience last night. I had a mother whelping.. everything went smooth. In fact she had all her pups fairly quickly. I’m very hands on with my litters. So I notice everything and anything. After several hours post whelp I had one male pup who just didn’t seem to be acting right. He seemed weak, didn’t want to nurse and was not moving around like he should.
In many many cases Mother Nature can be cruel, and no matter what a newborn pup just doesn’t make it. For whatever reason… gods plan, fading puppy syndrome, or something developmental wise is wrong, early placenta detachment during birth, The list can go on, but the outcome is Still the same.. they don’t make it.
As I sat there I checked him over, listened to his heart and lungs with a stethoscope, all sounded normal. Tried and tried to get him to latch on and nurse. He just didn’t have any interest. He was a solid chunky pup and seemed healthy otherwise.
Then all of a sudden the dummy foal concept popped in my tea driven caffeine fed brain( it’s 3:20 am at the moment) . A Dummy puppy ? Is it possible? I’ve had years and years of veterinary experience, never had any vet or repro specialist vet mention a dummy puppy.
So I thought maybe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy?? But he didn’t have trouble breathing when born. The more I thought about it the more I kept going back to the dummy foal. I googled dummy puppy, not much came up, only A few things. I logged onto VIN and only found dummy foals and calves. So I decided I would do the Madigan Squeeze Technique on the puppy. Certainly couldn’t hurt to try that before i started to tube feed and see if that helped. I had placed him in the incubator to see if warming him up would stimulate him more. It didn’t appear to improve. So I went and got this really fluffy yarn I had that you make those chunky crochet blankets with. I did just as you would with a foal. Wrapping the yarn gently around the rib cage and front torso. Puppy can still breathe fine and I’m not hurting him in any way. I gently applied pressure to the yarn while still being safe and not hurting the puppy, creating steady pressure as I set the timer on my phone for 20 min. At about minute 8 the puppy went limp, just like a foal does during the procedure. It was quite remarkable and I wish I had recorded it. I waited the whole 20 min, undid the yarn and the puppy began to move and squirm around just like a normal newborn puppy should. I placed him with his mom and encouraged him to nurse, he instantly latched on to a ni**le and eagerly began to suckle. It was so heartwarming I cried.
This little guy began to continue to thrive as the night turned into day.
Have breeders been missing this? Have vets and neonate specialists been missing this? I searched the whelping pages on facebook that I am on, two groups with 30k plus members and not one talking about it. Have we really just thought it was just a failure to thrive things? People and breeders who don’t know anything about horses probably have never even heard of a dummy foal. I have years and years of experience in equine repro and have seen a handful of dummy foal cases. Never before have I had that thought cross my mind. I keep thinking about pups that this may have worked on.
Was this just a coincidence that he is doing better or was he a dummy puppy ???
This week I will try to do a video of the technique I used to breeders can see and add it to their basket of breeder tools.
Has anyone else out there had this happen? Tried it? When I googled it, I found two.. two people who had an experience similar to mine. But this is still not talked about. So let’s talk about it. Comment with thoughts, share this, message me, mention this to a vet if you are ever in a critical situation at headed to the vet office.
Let us breeders share this post, share our thoughts, maybe another life will be saved because of it.
For those who have never heard of a dummy foal. There are dozens and dozens of YouTube videos showing exactly that. Watch them, understand what’s going on.
Puppy is now nursing, squirming around and making normal newborn noises.
