WOMAN SAVES PUPPY WITH CPR.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

A dog may be man's best friend, but Phyllis Migasi is the best friend of a puppy named Hope.

Migasi used mouth-to-snout resuscitation and CPR to revive the 8-day-old puppy after it was found apparently lifeless from being dunked in a bucket of water by Migasi's toddler son.

With a sheriff's deputy calmly giving her instructions over the telephone, Migasi administered CPR on the pup for eight tense minutes, blowing into its mouth and using her index finger to press down on its fuzzy belly.

``When he came back to life, there was not one word that I can think of to describe it, to explain how I felt when the puppy started crying,'' said Migasi, a 23-year-old clothing store manager. ``I started screaming, It worked, it worked! He's alive!''

The emergency rescue operation began Monday evening at Migasi's mother's house in the 38800 block of Juniper Tree Road.

While Migasi was helping her mother move new furniture into the dining room, the two women noticed that Migasi's typically rambunctious 23-month-old son, Gabriel, was ``a little too quiet.''

``Usually he's a noisy boy. We can hear him playing with his toys,'' Migasi said. ``My mom went to the back porch, and she started to yell to me to come and help her.''

Gabriel had decided to give the family's litter of 11 newborn pit bull puppies a bath by placing them in a bucket of water that served as the puppies' mother's water bowl.

``He was trying to bathe them. We have toys that are small plastic puppies and kittens. That's what he plays with when he bathes,'' Migasi said. ``I think as he put one in at a time, he didn't realize they were being submerged underwater.''

The mother dog, Tootsie, watched Gabriel and did nothing, Migasi said.

``She was right there and just watching. As my mom pulled them out and put them next to her, she started licking them. I don't even think she realized what was going on.''

Three of the puppies were unconscious. Migasi's mother, Nancy, revived two of them by holding them upside down and rubbing their stomachs. Migasi said she tried the same thing with the third puppy, but nothing happened.

She called 911, got Deputy Michael Rust on the line and told him her puppy was not breathing. He began to instruct her on how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

``I was terrified. I realized every second that went by, I was losing time,'' Migasi recalled. ``I was hesitant to put my mouth on (the puppy), not because he was a dog, but because he was dead. There was no sign of life whatsoever.

``I laid him on the floor, and tilted the head back. I couldn't close his nose because it is so small. I'm crying at this point,'' Migasi said.

At one point the puppy revived but lapsed into unconsciousness again, so Migasi continued her rescue effort until the puppy began breathing.

The puppy and its 10 siblings were reported to be doing well Tuesday, Migasi said. Nameless before its close encounter with death, the puppy got a name Tuesday from Migasi - Hope.

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Photo

PHOTO (color in Valley edition only) Phyllis Migasi watches as her son Gabriel Aguirre hugs Hope, the puppy Migasi saved by using CPR.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer