DAYTON — Mary Jo Heidenreich was eating what she thought would be a relaxing dinner.

Sitting in her living room, she put her dinner on a tray and began to eat while watching television — and she felt something lodge in her throat.

As she began to choke, her 4-year-old Shih Tzu, Chewie, jumped on her chest.

"He went to jump up in my lap, he hit right below my rib cage," she said. "He wanted to comfort me."

Heidenreich, 45, said, at that point, a small piece of tooth came out of her throat.

Heidenreich is convinced 15-pound Chewie saved her life by jumping on her chest, and perhaps even inadvertently performing the Heimlich maneuver.

Chewie could have landed in the right spot, but it was probably his owner's reaction that ended her choking spell, said Dr. Robert Kahn, who practices family medicine in Kettering.

A Heimlich maneuver is used to dislodge a piece of food, typically between the size of a nickel and a quarter, stuck in the esophagus, Dr. Kahn said.

The piece of tooth might have been lodged in Heidenreich's posterior pharynx – the back of her throat – and that caused her to choke, he said. The pressure of the dog's paws, along with her startled reaction, was probably enough to dislodge the tooth piece, he said.

However, Kahn said, "A 10-year-old kid can perform a Heimlich maneuver."

Chewie wouldn't be the first dog to pull it off.

A Baltimore woman in March of 2007 said her Golden Retriever jumped on her chest while she was choking, dislodging a piece of fruit and saving her life.