Why Is My Dog Making Weird Breathing Noises? Reverse Sneezing and 9 Other Causes
How to tell urgent breathing problems from harmless ones, reverse sneezing explained, nine other causes, what each noise means, normal resting breathing rates, and how to record an episode for your vet.
Short answer: reverse sneezing is usually harmless — struggling to breathe never is
The most common “weird noise” is a reverse sneeze: sudden, dramatic snorting inward that stops within a minute and leaves your dog completely normal. That is usually nothing to worry about. What always matters is effort — a dog straining to breathe, with blue or grey gums, extended neck, or noise that will not settle, is an emergency. This guide helps you tell the difference.
Your dog is asleep at your feet and suddenly makes a noise like a broken drain — violent, snorting, honking, apparently unable to breathe in. It lasts twenty seconds. You are halfway to the car keys when they stand up, shake, and wander off to find a toy as though nothing happened.
That is almost certainly a reverse sneeze, and it frightens far more owners than it harms dogs. But “weird breathing noises” covers a very wide range, from the completely benign to the genuinely life-threatening, and the difference is not always obvious at 11pm.
So this guide is built around one question: is this urgent or not? It covers the emergency signs first, then reverse sneezing, then the nine other common causes, what your vet will do, and how to record it properly so someone who knows can tell you what you are looking at.
Struggling to breathe — obvious effort, heaving sides, elbows held out from the body, neck stretched forward · blue, grey, white or brick-red gums · unable to settle or lie down · collapse · choking or pawing at the mouth · noisy breathing that does not stop · breathing hard at rest with a swollen abdomen. Do not wait to see if it improves. Do not drive to a closed practice — ring first so they are ready.
Urgent or Not: How to Tell
The single most useful distinction is noise versus effort. A noisy dog who is otherwise comfortable is a different situation from a quiet dog who is working hard to breathe.
| Usually not urgent | Urgent — ring now | |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Seconds to a minute, then completely normal | Continuous, or repeatedly returning |
| Effort | No obvious struggle; chest moves normally afterwards | Heaving sides, elbows out, neck extended, abdomen pumping |
| Gums | Healthy pink | Blue, grey, white or brick red |
| Behaviour | Back to normal instantly — eating, playing, sleeping | Cannot settle, anxious, refuses to lie down, collapses |
| Trigger | Excitement, pulling on a lead, a sniff of dust or pollen | None, or it started suddenly and has not stopped |
| Sound | Snorting inwards, then silence | Continuous wheeze, harsh rasp, honking that persists |
A dog making a lot of noise while breathing comfortably is usually fine. A dog working hard to breathe — with or without noise — is an emergency. When in doubt, ring; every practice would far rather answer a phone call than see a dog too late.
Reverse Sneezing Explained
A reverse sneeze — properly, paroxysmal respiratory inspiration — is a spasm of the soft palate and throat that makes a dog pull air rapidly inwards through the nose. A normal sneeze pushes air out; this does the opposite, which is why it sounds so alarming.
What it looks like
The dog usually stops still, extends the neck and head forward, and makes repeated loud snorting or honking inhalations. The elbows may be held slightly out. It typically lasts a few seconds to under a minute, then stops completely — and the dog is instantly normal.
What causes it
Anything that irritates the back of the throat or nose: excitement, drinking or eating quickly, pulling on a collar, dust, pollen, strong smells, a sudden change in temperature, or nasal mites. Many dogs do it occasionally throughout their lives with no underlying problem at all.
What to do while it happens
- Stay calm. Your dog reads your panic and gets more worked up, which prolongs it.
- Stroke the throat gently in a downward direction, or briefly cover the nostrils for a second so they swallow — swallowing often breaks the cycle.
- Move them somewhere with fresh air if there is dust, aerosol or smoke about.
- Note how long it lasted and what preceded it.
Mention it to your vet if the episodes are becoming more frequent or longer, if they come with nasal discharge, bleeding, facial swelling, coughing, or reduced exercise tolerance, or if your dog seems unwell between episodes. Nasal mites, foreign bodies, polyps, infections and — in older dogs — nasal tumours can all produce similar signs, and those need investigating.
Nine Other Causes of Odd Breathing
| Cause | Typical picture | Urgency |
|---|---|---|
| Kennel cough | Harsh, honking cough often ending in a retch; usually bright otherwise | Vet appointment — highly contagious, so ring before attending |
| Something stuck (grass seed, stick, foreign body) | Sudden onset, pawing at the face or mouth, gagging, one-sided nasal discharge | Same day, or urgent if distressed |
| Laryngeal paralysis | Harsh raspy breathing on inhaling, voice change, worse with heat and exercise. More common in older large breeds | Vet appointment; emergency if in distress |
| Tracheal or airway collapse | Honking cough, often triggered by excitement or a collar | Vet appointment |
| Heart disease | Cough (often at night), reduced stamina, faster resting breathing rate | Vet appointment; urgent if breathing is laboured |
| Pneumonia / chest infection | Wet cough, fever, lethargy, off food, faster breathing | Same day |
| Allergies | Sneezing, clear nasal discharge, itchy eyes, seasonal pattern | Routine appointment |
| Anxiety or overheating | Heavy panting with no exertion, restlessness, drooling | Depends — see the heat section below |
| Nasal tumours or polyps | Progressive one-sided discharge or bleeding, facial swelling, noisy breathing that worsens over weeks | Vet appointment — early matters |
German Shepherds are not a flat-faced breed, so they avoid the airway problems that affect Pugs and Bulldogs. The one worth knowing about in older large breeds is laryngeal paralysis — a harsh, raspy inward noise that gets worse in heat or with exercise, sometimes with a change in the sound of the bark. It is manageable, and it needs diagnosis rather than guesswork.
What the Different Noises Mean
Almost always a reverse sneeze. Starts and stops abruptly; dog is completely normal afterwards.
Classic of kennel cough or airway irritation; often triggered by a collar or excitement, and frequently ends in a retch that owners mistake for vomiting.
Suggests something narrowing the upper airway — laryngeal paralysis, swelling or an obstruction. Worse with heat and exercise. Needs veterinary assessment.
Points to the lower airways — asthma-like inflammation, infection or an obstruction. Vet appointment.
Suggests fluid. Can indicate heart disease or pneumonia. Urgent if the dog is also breathing hard.
Often nothing, particularly in a certain sleeping position. Worth mentioning if it is new, getting louder, or accompanied by daytime noise.
What Normal Breathing Looks Like
Knowing your own dog’s baseline is the most useful thing on this page, and it takes two minutes to establish.
Resting respiratory rate is the number to know. While your dog is asleep or fully relaxed, count each rise of the chest for 30 seconds and double it. Most healthy dogs sit somewhere around 10 to 30 breaths per minute at rest. Write down your own dog’s number while they are well.
Why it matters: a rising resting rate is one of the earliest signs of heart or lung problems, and it is measurable at home long before anything looks obviously wrong. Vets managing heart patients often ask owners to track exactly this. Breathing should also be quiet, even, and effortless — the chest moving without the abdomen having to pump.
Lift the lip: gums should be pale pink. Press until they blanch and let go — colour should return within about two seconds. Pale, white, blue, grey or brick-red gums, or a slow refill, mean ring the vet immediately. This one check is the fastest way to turn “I’m worried” into “we’re going now”.
How to Record It For Your Vet
Breathing noises have an infuriating habit of stopping the moment you reach the consulting room. A video solves that better than any description.
- Film the whole dog, side on, so the chest is visible
- Get at least 20–30 seconds of the noise
- Keep the room quiet so the sound records clearly
- Include the recovery afterwards
- Film the gums separately in good light
- Note the time, and what happened just before
- Five seconds of a close-up nose
- Filming with the television on
- A description from memory a week later
- Waiting for it to happen again “to get a better one”
- Only filming the mild episodes
- Delaying an urgent appointment to get footage
Also worth noting: how often it happens, how long each episode lasts, whether it is getting worse, whether it is linked to exercise, heat, excitement or lying down, and whether anything else has changed — appetite, energy, cough, weight. The free health reminder tracker is a convenient place to log it.
What Your Vet Will Do
- History and your video — often the most informative part of the whole appointment.
- Listening to the chest with a stethoscope — heart, lungs, and where in the airway the noise is coming from.
- Examining the mouth, throat and nose, sometimes under sedation for a proper look.
- X-rays of the chest and possibly the neck.
- Blood tests, and blood pressure where relevant.
- Referral for endoscopy, CT or a cardiology work-up if the picture needs it.
If your dog is in respiratory distress, expect them to be taken straight through for oxygen before anyone talks to you about history. That is normal and it is the right order of priorities.
Heat, Exercise and Panting
Panting is how dogs cool themselves, so panting after exercise or on a warm day is normal. Panting becomes a warning sign when it does not fit the situation.
Frantic heavy panting · bright red gums · thick drool · wobbling, confusion or collapse · vomiting. Move into shade, pour cool (not ice-cold) water over them, offer small drinks and ring an emergency vet on the way. A thick, double-coated dog working hard on a warm day is at real risk, and heatstroke can be fatal.
Panting that deserves a non-emergency vet conversation: heavy panting at rest in a cool room, panting that has become noticeably more frequent over weeks, panting alongside restlessness at night, or panting with a cough or reduced stamina. In older dogs it can be a sign of pain as much as of temperature.
Kit Worth Having
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A Y-shaped harness instead of a collar for walks
A large number of honking, coughing and reverse-sneezing episodes are triggered by pressure on the throat — a dog pulling into a collar compresses the windpipe and irritates the airway. Moving the attachment point to a well-fitted harness removes that entirely, and costs nothing in control.
- Takes all pulling pressure off the windpipe and throat
- Often reduces cough and reverse-sneeze episodes on walks noticeably
- Better control of a strong dog than a collar gives you anyway
- Essential if your dog has any diagnosed airway problem
Good to know: measure the chest girth behind the front legs before ordering, and check the straps form a Y over the chest rather than a bar across the shoulders. Our harness vs collar guide covers fitting properly.
| Item | Why it helps | Find it |
|---|---|---|
| Y-shaped harness | Removes throat pressure, a common trigger | See options → |
| Cooling mat | Helps a thick-coated dog in warm weather | See options → |
| Collapsible water bottle | Water on every warm-weather walk, no excuses | See options → |
| Air purifier | Can help dogs whose episodes are dust or pollen linked | See options → |
| Dog first aid kit | For the twenty minutes before you reach the vet | See options → |
7 Mistakes (and the Fix for Each)
❌ 1. Assuming every noise is a reverse sneeze
Reverse sneezing is brief and self-limiting. Anything continuous, or with effort, is something else.
✅ Fix: judge on effort and duration, not on how dramatic it sounds.❌ 2. Waiting overnight to “see how they are in the morning”
Respiratory distress deteriorates fast, and dogs hide it until they cannot.
✅ Fix: ring the out-of-hours service. Describing it on the phone costs nothing.❌ 3. Walking a strong dog on a collar
Pressure on the windpipe triggers coughing and reverse sneezing, and is genuinely uncomfortable.
✅ Fix: a well-fitted Y-harness for walks; collar for ID tags only.❌ 4. Not knowing the normal resting rate
Without a baseline, “he seems to be breathing faster” is impossible to assess.
✅ Fix: count it while your dog is well and write it down. Thirty seconds, doubled.❌ 5. No video
The noise always stops in the waiting room, and a description of a honk is not diagnostic.
✅ Fix: film the whole dog, side on, with sound, for at least twenty seconds.❌ 6. Ignoring a gradual increase
Episodes that are slowly becoming longer or more frequent are telling you something has changed.
✅ Fix: log the dates. A trend is far more informative than any single episode.❌ 7. Exercising a noisy-breathing dog in the heat
Upper airway problems and hot weather are a dangerous combination, especially in a double-coated breed.
✅ Fix: cool part of the day, shorter sessions, water carried, and a vet assessment before anything strenuous.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my dog make a honking snorting noise?
Most often a reverse sneeze — a brief throat spasm that makes them snort air inwards, lasting seconds to under a minute, after which they are completely normal. A persistent honking cough, by contrast, suggests airway irritation or kennel cough and needs a vet appointment.
Is reverse sneezing dangerous?
Usually not. Many dogs do it occasionally with no underlying problem. It becomes worth investigating if episodes get longer or more frequent, or come with nasal discharge, bleeding, facial swelling or reduced exercise tolerance.
How do I stop a reverse sneezing episode?
Stay calm, stroke the throat gently downwards, or briefly cover the nostrils for a second so your dog swallows — swallowing usually breaks the cycle. Move them to fresh air if dust or aerosols are involved.
When is noisy breathing an emergency?
When there is effort: heaving sides, elbows held out, neck stretched forward, an inability to settle or lie down, blue, grey or brick-red gums, collapse, or noise that will not stop. Ring an emergency vet straight away rather than waiting.
What is a normal breathing rate for a dog?
Around 10 to 30 breaths per minute at rest for most healthy dogs. Count the chest rises for 30 seconds while your dog sleeps and double it. Knowing your own dog’s usual number makes a rise obvious — which is often the earliest sign of heart or lung problems.
Do German Shepherds have breathing problems?
Not the conformation-related ones that affect flat-faced breeds. The one worth knowing about in older large breeds is laryngeal paralysis, which causes harsh raspy breathing on inhaling, often worse with heat and exercise, and sometimes a change in the bark. It needs veterinary diagnosis.
✅ Your Breathing Checklist
- Judge on effort, not on how dramatic the noise is
- Know your dog’s resting breathing rate while they are well
- Gums should be pale pink, refilling in under two seconds
- Blue, grey, white or brick-red gums = emergency
- Struggling to breathe = emergency, day or night
- Reverse sneezes: brief, self-limiting, dog normal afterwards
- Video the whole dog, side on, with sound
- Log frequency and duration — trends matter
- Harness rather than collar for walks
- No strenuous exercise in heat, especially with airway noise
- Emergency vet number saved in every adult’s phone
- Gradual worsening → appointment, not observation
The Bottom Line
Most weird breathing noises in dogs are reverse sneezes — alarming, brief, and harmless. The way to tell is not how bad it sounds, but whether your dog is working to breathe and how quickly they return to normal.
Learn your dog’s resting breathing rate, learn the gum check, keep a harness on them instead of a collar, and film anything unusual. Then trust the simple rule: noise with comfort can usually wait for an appointment; effort, blue gums or a dog who cannot settle means ring now.
- Healthcare for your German Shepherd — the weekly check and emergency signs
- Harness vs collar — why the attachment point matters
- Senior German Shepherd care — breathing changes in older dogs
- Free health reminder tracker — log episodes and check-ups
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