Reverse sneezing, choking sounds and wheezing in a French Bulldog

"Reverse sneeze dog causes" and "what causes reverse sneezing in dogs" are each searched 260 times a month in the UK, and the breed version comes as "french bulldog choking sound", "wheezing" and "breathing fast while resting". This page is the published thresholds for each noise, in the Kennel Club's and the PDSA's own words, then what that noise tends to be in a breed that makes more of them than any other. The night-time ones are on the snoring page; this is the daytime set. No verdict.

The honk: reverse sneezing

If your dog is choking, that is the emergency call, now. For something swallowed rather than stuck, the Animal Poison Line is 01202 509 000, at £35 in the day and £45 at other times (their figures, read 17 September 2026).

The published thresholds

The PDSA: "Reverse sneezing is when a dog rapidly sucks air through their nose causing a loud snorting noise. Reverse sneezing can be alarming to see, but is nearly always harmless." And: "In most cases, nothing needs to be done about reverse sneezing, but it's sensible to speak to your vet if your dog starts doing it out of the blue, or frequently and severely enough to affect their quality of life." The Kennel Club: "A reverse sneeze sounds strange and is often described as a honking, snorting, sneezing sound", an episode "can go on for around half a minute", "a single episode is usually nothing to be worried about", and "If your dog has multiple episodes, or you're concerned about their health, then always speak to your vet."

In this breed

Both charities name the breed. The PDSA's causes list runs from "Pulling on the lead", overexcitement, dust and air fresheners to "An overlong soft palate – common in flat-faced breeds such as: Pugs Bulldogs French Bulldogs". The Kennel Club: flat-faced dogs "tend to have shorter and narrower nostrils that can make them more at risk of respiratory issues, including reverse sneezing", and "If your flat-faced dog has breathing issues, or repeatedly sneezes, then it's important that you speak to your vet about their health." So the honk in a French Bulldog is the soft palate and the nostrils making themselves heard, and the two questions are the charities' own: is it new, and is it often. A dog that reverse-sneezes on every walk is a dog whose grade is worth knowing, and the lead-pulling cause is the harness page.

The choking sound, and the gag

The three things that get called choking. A reverse sneeze, above, is inhaled and honking and stops in half a minute. A gag or retch after eating or drinking, with nothing produced, is the throat, and in this breed the reflux that goes with the airway; the PDSA's line on regurgitation is on the tummy page. And continuous retching that produces nothing, with a swelling belly, is the PDSA's twisted-stomach sign and a phone call now. A dog that is actually choking on an object, pawing at its mouth, unable to breathe in, is the emergency number while you look in the mouth; the PDSA has a first-aid page for that and this one does not repeat it.

Wheezing, and noise at rest

Neither charity page gives a breathing-rate figure for dogs, and this page will not invent one. What the grading scheme gives is the distinction that matters: a dog with "some respiratory noise" and no effort is Grade 1 and clinically unaffected; noise at rest, effort to breathe in, and noise that worsens after three minutes of brisk exercise is Grade 2 or 3. A wheeze or a rasp that is there when the dog is lying still, that the assessor would hear through a stethoscope before the exercise test, is the second kind. The BOAS page has the operations and the costs, and the windpipe page the one cause surgery cannot reach.

Fast breathing, and the number that matters

A French Bulldog pants to cool itself through an airway that does not work well, and the UK heat-illness data found that flat-faced dogs had greater odds of every kind of heat illness and that the median outdoor temperature on the day a dog was treated was 16.9°C. Fast, hard breathing that does not settle within minutes in a cool room, with a tongue that is darkening or a dog that is unsteady, is the heat-stroke page's first five minutes: cool with water and moving air, then drive, cooling on the way. Fast breathing in a dog lying quietly in a cool room, with no exertion to explain it, is a call the same day. In the one study that measured it, breathing rate in flat-faced dogs rose with exercise whether they wore a collar or a harness, so the harness helps the eyes and the neck, not the count.

Have ready for the call

• A video of the noise, thirty seconds, with the sound on.
• Whether it happens at rest, on the lead, after eating, or in the heat.
• How often, and whether it is new.
• The room temperature, and what the dog was doing.
• Breaths per minute at rest, counted over a full minute: the vet will want the number even though the charities do not publish a threshold.
• The grading chart, if the dog has been graded.

What this page is not

A verdict. The thresholds are the PDSA's and the Kennel Club's wording, attributed; the breed lines are the site's sourced airway pages. Neither charity publishes a normal breathing rate for dogs, so none appears here. Vets Now, Blue Cross and the RVC's pages could not be read when this was written.