Scary Night

So I had a most unpleasant experience last night regarding my pug, Oreo. My husband and I went to bed around 9:00 last night. I fell asleep fairly quickly (which is very unusual), but was abruptly awoken by the sound of Oreo trying, unsuccessfully, to breathe. He jumped on the bed and ran to me as he panicked over the lack of oxygen he was getting. It seems Oreo has the same breathing problem as my first pug, Denzel. Dogs have these two little flaps in their throats that allow air to flow in and out. They open and close accordingly unless a problem arises. For pugs, problems arise often. This particular problem is having their muscles tense which cause those two little flaps in their throat to stay closed. Closed flaps mean little or no air gets to the pugs nose and mouth. Just like any human, a pug will freak out when they can't breathe. However, panicking causes the muscles to tense more and therefore keep the flaps closed longer. I immediately turned on the light and did the only thing a doctor said I could do. I held him close, spoke softly in his hear, and rubbed his throat in hopes that it would calm him down enough to allow him to start breathing again. It took almost five minutes to get him back to normal (if you can call a pug's breathing normal) breathing. The rest of the night I slept restlessly, worred my baby would have another breathing attack. Thankfully, he didn't, but all I kept thinking is: What if I don't wake up the next time? What if I can't get him to calm down next time? What if his little flaps don't open back up? Those are terrible questions to think of in regards to something you consider family.