# Dog olfactory data/Reclining during heart attack **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427 "2011-08-20T13:24:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/1 "2011-08-20T13:24:04Z")
Doing my part for our nation’s stressed economy, I’m practicing economy by combining my two unrelated questions into one thread. (If someone can find a relationship between these two topics, I will put a special sticker on your homework.) 1. When I take my dogs walking, of course, they smell everything, and occasionally will be RIVETED by some little (to me) nondescript clump of grass and spend many long seconds with their noses buried in the Goodness. What is the nature/content of the DATA that they are acquiring at those times? Yeah, others dogs, to be sure… but \*what about \*those other dogs? My exBF always said it was what the other dogs had eaten and this was a survival mechanism to determine if there was a food supply in the area. But can you tell what other dogs have eaten from day-old pee left on a blade of grass? What \*does \*that old pee reveal? Or new pee, for that matter? 1. Also, this morning I got one of those zillion-times-forwarded messages from my Aunt C (usually I delete them without opening, \*especially \*when they say “do not delete-important-not a joke” in the subject line), but this had a piece of useful information and a factiod that I’d like the SDMB to verify (or not). The useful bit is that Bayer has a quick-dissolving aspirin for when think you’re having a heart attack. In fact, my exBF (same one as mentioned above) WAS having a heart attack in 2004 after mowing the lawn, and I gave him three aspirin to chew and they saved his life. But these quick-dissolving ones sound better. The thing I’m wondering about is that the email says “don’t lie down while you’re waiting for EMS.” Is this true? Should you not lie down? Another friend years ago had heart problems and one time had to call an ambulance, and when I got to his apartment (after he had been taken to the hospital) there was a dining room chair just inside the front door where he had SAT while waiting for EMS. That seemed odd to me at the time, but maybe it was really smart. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/2 "2011-08-20T14:11:11Z")
Here’s some stuff on question 2 > **[Aspirin and Heart Attacks](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bedside-companion/)** > > Take Aspirin at the first sign of a heart attack, but don't lie down? Notably this: > [@](#): > > In 1993 the American Heart Association began recommending a325 mg aspirin dose at the onset of chest pain or other symptoms of a severe heart attack. That bit of advice is going unheeded, though; a follow-up report published in1997 shows as many as 10,000 American lives a year could be saved if more people who thought they were having heart attacks took an aspirin at the start of chest pains. and > [@](#): > > As for the e-mail’s central claim, that lying down after a heart attack is the wrong thing to do, we’ve located no support for that statement. There appears to be no difference between the outcomes of heart attack patients that lie down versus those that remain upright. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/3 "2011-08-20T15:10:23Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > But can you tell what other dogs have eaten from day-old pee left on a blade of grass? What \*does \*that old pee reveal? Or new pee, for that matter? Well, this is typical human lack of appreciation for a truly fascinating odor. It’s piss! Another dog has been here and pissed on the grass! Wow, another dog’s bodily elimination product. Jubilee!!! As far as not lying down during a heart attack, I don’t know of any good evidence supporting that. A sort of related ?fiction is that you shouldn’t allow people who have overdosed to fall unconscious (they supposedly should be forced to stay awake because then they won’t become comatose and die). I’d think that if you took a fatal dose of whatever, it wouldn’t matter whether you’re artificially kept awake a bit longer. Connecting the heart attack and dog pee questions, you shouldn’t lie down if you’re having chest pain and a dog is in the room, because then it’s more likely to snag your sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/4 "2011-08-20T15:15:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Well, this is typical human lack of appreciation for a truly fascinating odor. It’s piss! Another dog has been here and pissed on the grass! Wow, another dog’s bodily elimination product. Jubilee!!! That’s what I was thinking. There’s no evolutionary point to the fascination itself. But the fascination with odors makes dogs smell things, and smelling things is a valuable survival trait. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/5 "2011-08-20T16:52:35Z")
I have heard (sorry, no cite) that dogs can smell sort of in layers, getting a time-travel picture of what’s been happening. If the layers of scents are compared to a pizza, the dog is getting first the uppermost topping, then the one under that, etc. and finally smelling the crust, and then the plate. Plus they can get all kinds of info from each scent that we cannot. Where we would smell “uggh, dog pee,” the dog gets, “An hour ago, male dog, not too large, recently ate meat,” followed by “female dog, three hours ago, not in estrus,” followed by “squirrel ran through here yesterday.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/6 "2011-08-20T17:15:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Connecting the heart attack and dog pee questions, you shouldn’t lie down if you’re having chest pain and a dog is in the room, because then it’s more likely to snag your sandwich. Hmmm… or pee on you. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/7 "2011-08-20T17:23:13Z")
Dogs don’t understand why their humans spend hours on end just looking at things. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/8 "2011-08-21T00:25:51Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Dogs don’t understand why their humans spend hours on end just looking at things… …without bothering to smell them. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/9 "2011-08-21T00:30:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > …without bothering to smell them. … or peeing on them. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/10 "2011-08-21T02:01:56Z")
. . . and especially why we go all crazy about them chewing on things that we didn’t even think were important enough to pee on. Especially the shoes. If we would just pee on the important stuff like any sane individual the household would be a much more peaceful place. Thank goodness they got the cat. He’s apparently trained as a helper animal for the pee disabled, and has already covered the shoes and handbags. I wish he’d hurry up and get to the baseball mitts, because that’s going to cause trouble. . . But seriously, they get tiny clues all day about what other animals live in the neighborhood. They may have heard a deep voice during the twilight bark, and now here’s the pee of a male dog, obviously tall and well-fed, and seems to have been going in the direction that bark comes from. Making the connection is exciting to them. Or there may be another dog they’ve sniffed in passing during your walks and then never seen again. Here’s proof that he’s still alive and well. And he got some cat food last night. Bonus! I’ll just leave a small dribble to say “Hi”. . . ---
**Author:** ![zhaoyipeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cab0a1/32.png) [@zhaoyipeng](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zhaoyipeng)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/11 "2011-08-22T05:20:15Z")
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**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/12 "2011-08-23T18:06:10Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > I have heard (sorry, no cite) that dogs can smell sort of in layers, getting a time-travel picture of what’s been happening. If the layers of scents are compared to a pizza, the dog is getting first the uppermost topping, then the one under that, etc. and finally smelling the crust, and then the plate. Plus they can get all kinds of info from each scent that we cannot. Where we would smell “uggh, dog pee,” the dog gets, “An hour ago, male dog, not too large, recently ate meat,” followed by “female dog, three hours ago, not in estrus,” followed by “squirrel ran through here yesterday.” So basically, pee = Twitter for doggies. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/13 "2011-08-24T06:50:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The thing I’m wondering about is that the email says “don’t lie down while you’re waiting for EMS.” Is this true? Should you not lie down? Another friend years ago had heart problems and one time had to call an ambulance, and when I got to his apartment (after he had been taken to the hospital) there was a dining room chair just inside the front door where he had SAT while waiting for EMS. That seemed odd to me at the time, but maybe it was really smart. A friend who was an EMT once told me that if the patient is in a standing or sitting position, instead of lying on the floor, it was faster & easier for them to get you onto the gurney & into the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. (Especially when about 50% of Americans are overweight.) So maybe just that little saving of time is important in an emergency. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/14 "2011-08-24T07:03:06Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > A friend who was an EMT once told me that if the patient is in a standing or sitting position, instead of lying on the floor, it was faster & easier for them to get you onto the gurney & into the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. (Especially when about 50% of Americans are overweight.) So maybe just that little saving of time is important in an emergency. Concur, from experience, not as EMT. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/15 "2011-08-24T09:23:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > A sort of related ?fiction is that you shouldn’t allow people who have overdosed to fall unconscious (they supposedly should be forced to stay awake because then they won’t become comatose and die). I’d think that if you took a fatal dose of whatever, it wouldn’t matter whether you’re artificially kept awake a bit longer. [Cecil covered this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2572/is-the-grass-always-greener-on-the-other-side) once: > [@](#): > > While walking your buddy around may be informative (and reassuring), it’s not really therapeutic–drugs metabolize at roughly the same rate whether the affected party is conscious or not. However, there’s a grain of truth in it: > [@](#): > > Absent monitoring devices, it’s difficult to judge Mr. OD Victim’s condition once he nods off. Rather than take a chance, the standard advice has historically been to keep the poor bastard on his feet–as long as he’s moving, you can be reasonably sure death isn’t imminent, whereas if he can’t be roused, it’s time for a quick trip to the ER. Also keeping in mind the secondary danger of overdose that Cecil mentions > [@](#): > > I should stress, however, that doctors (specifically Patrick Murray, a kidney specialist at the University of Chicago Hospitals, whom I consulted on this subject) shudder at the thought of amateurs trying to make a drugged person throw up,\*\* lest he choke to death on his own vomit a la Jimi Hendrix\*\*. (bolding mine) a person lying down passed out can choke on their own vomit much easier than a person who is being kept awake and maybe moving around. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/16 "2011-08-24T13:17:06Z")
> [@Sanity\_Challenged](#): > > So basically, pee = Twitter for doggies. PissBook? Perhaps instead of Twitter, it could be called Dribble. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/17 "2011-08-24T17:16:13Z")
My mom always refers to it as Bowser checking his p-mail. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/18 "2011-08-24T17:33:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > . . . I’m practicing economy by combining my two unrelated questions into one thread. Nothing personal, but I wish people would stop doing this. I shouldn’t have to open a thread and read the OP, just to know what it’s about. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/19 "2011-08-24T18:49:14Z")
> [@Sanity\_Challenged](#): > > So basically, pee = Twitter for doggies. And, unsurprisingly since the universe is remarkably symmetrical, Twitter = pee for humans. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427/20 "2011-08-24T19:53:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Doing my part for our nation’s stressed economy, I’m practicing economy by combining my two unrelated questions into one thread. Only I don’t see how it helps the economy anywhere: 1. If you are a guest, you don’t pay because you get ads; if you become a member, you pay a fixed fee. So how many posts you make is irrelevant. 2. If you want to save the hamsters and the SDMB servers, combining two questions also doesn’t work, because for two questions, twice the amount of people will come, read and post. So two seperate threads would be just as well or better. 3. If you want to save time for the Dopers reading (instead of working ;)), combining two subjects means that time is wasted if somebody is only interested in one subject. So making two seperate threads would be better. The only connection I can see is not pee, but that some dogs can smell certain ailments in their owners and get help. There is some research that dogs can smell trouble with diabetics better and earlier than electronic sensors, and how to use that (training dogs would cost a lot of time, so improving the sensors would be preferred). But I think I also remember anecdotal stories of at least one dog who somehow got help or barked to rouse his owner at a heart attack. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-olfactory-data-reclining-during-heart-attack/593427.md?page=2)