I am new to the breed and adopted a 2 Y.O. Sometimes he does this wierd hacking thing like he has some snot he is trying to cough up or something. It is wierd buut I think it might not be unusual for the breed. He has been doing it more often lately (2x/day) and I want to know why. Is he OK?

It is probably what is called a reverse sneeze. It's usually caused by allergies or irritants.

http://www.vetinfo.com/reverse-sneezing-dogs.html

There are some videos on youtube to see if that is what your pup is doing.

it has something to do with their palate. I know Bostons have a more narrow throat and airway than other breeds. Both of my Bostons do it. What i do is (and the vet told me this) put a finger over their nose hole for a few seconds. It seems to make them swallow and it usually stops straight away. If it doesnt repeat it again. Welcome to the wonderful world of bostons. My saying is once you go Boston you never go back! lol....

So he is okay? Is it dangerous if I do nothing? It seems sort of random. Oh, and yes, I can see why Bostons would stick with you. I have had many breeds of dogs over the years and this is by far the cutest dog I have ever had! You should see him attacking my 100 lb. lab! So brave! (He is playing, but it seems like messing with sasquatch when his entire head would fit in my lab's mouth!)

Usually there is some sort of irritant (dirt, dust, etc.) that causes the palate to spasm, resulting in a reverse sneeze. You can cover their nose for a few seconds, massage their throat, some people have luck with talking them out of it. A reverse sneeze wont hurt them, but it looks really uncomfortable.

you are right ginnafer you can talk them out of it. I have always said to Fing "are you right" in a bit of a high piitched voice (silly i know but i cant help it lol) and now when i say it it pretty much stops him doing it. I would say 95% of the time. So there is nothing wrong with him and it does sound horrible but just just have a bit of a catch phrase and say it just before you put yopur finger over his nose and hopefully the above will work for you too....happy bostoning!

We have a spike in the pollen counts this week and we are redoing the floors in the house so dust is high too and Tank has his 1st bout of allergies, he has done this reverse sneeze a few times. I found putting my finger over his nose for a second will make him stop, sometimes just picking him up makes it stop. But they will be fine if you don't do anything.

If he is suffering from seasonal allergies you can give him some benadryl to help, it's 1-2mg per lb. Tank had a runny nose and runny, red eyes this week along with a lot of humans haha, the benadryl helped a lot.

Thanks for the feedback. He hasn't done it the last few days but I know it will be back. Now I know what to do. It does look unconfortable but I am relieved it isn't serious.

My Tugg does that too... It would have alarmed me quite a bit if I hadn't already experienced it with my rat terrier Abby... It's quite a scary noise and sounds like they are gonna just choke at any moment... I usually rub the throat of whichever child is doing it and it stops... I DO hate it when they do it tho, cos it still makes me a little nervous at times! LOL!

Personally, I think it's funny. Molly is not bothered by reverse sneezes. She does look at me as if I had the problem though. . .