Breathing life into a canine companion isn’t quite as close an encounter as you may think; you won’t have to worry about any exchange of bodily fluids. Because a dog’s mouth is so large, the rescuer clamps the animal’s jaws shut, cups her other hand around its nose and puffs air in from a hygienic distance. (True dog devotees, of course, consider their pooches’ smooches sublime and insist dog saliva is sterile.)
As with people, dog resuscitation alternates breaths with chest compressions to get oxygen-laden blood flowing to the brain when the heart has stopped. The three-foot-long training mannequin, made by Nasco International, Inc., costs $895 (so does a cat model), has a simulated femoral artery pulse in one leg and an electronic monitor that beeps and flashes if the rescuer’s compressions are off target or too weak.
A course in dog CPR is nothing to sneeze at. A cocker spaniel can go into cardiac arrest from a heart attack, heatstroke, getting hit by a car, nearly drowning, electric shock-or licking a toxic toad. But if Resusci-Rover is a successful role model, many of his flesh-and-blood counterparts will get a second chance at a dog’s life.
PHOTO: Canine kiss: Resusci-Rover and friend (RED MORGAN)
BEACH-BLANKET BLOWOUT
Pumping iron isn’t the only way to lift a woman’s bustline–a California swimwear company has found a way to pump it up with air. Top Secret, a new bikini from Cole of California, is the latest “remedy” for women with the flat-chested blues. It offers inflatable falsies built into the bikini top.
“Ya gotta have a gimmick,” sang the strippers in “Gypsy,” and here it is. It’s even adjustable–like pump sneakers. Just press a pump sewn into the center of the bra and air flows into plastic chambers in both cups. Whoops, didn’t want the Dolly Parton look? Not to worry. Hit the release valve and let some air out.
If you thought underwires were uncomfortable, treating a woman’s breasts like beach balls doesn’t sound any better. Still, the designer, Jacqueline Bronson, claims it’s “a more ’90s way to give women the look they want. " So far the suits have been bought by swim boutiques in Hawaii and West Hollywood, where they’ll sell for $72. A maillot model will be out in March.
One might be tempted to view all this as progress, of a sort. We’ve come a long way from the days when girls stuffed their bras with napkins and owned several sets of falsies. Back then, they changed breast sizes daily and everyone pretended not to notice. Now they’ll be able to regulate their size with the touch of a button. The only problem left is what to do when you get a flat.
PHOTO: Honey, I blew up the bikini.
HEAD ‘EM UP, RAWHIDE
At an exclusive little San Francisco shop called Body Manipulations, 24-year-old Nicholas Cochiolo is getting scarred for life. Again. To the left of the Borneo-scorpion and fish-skeleton tattoos on his shoulder and arm, nestled between the Celtic designs carved on his shoulder blades and directly behind the silver ring through his nipple, Cochiolo is being branded.
Not, mind you, with a hefty iron implement usually found on cattle ranches. That would leave a big, shapeless sear after the burn healed–not the stylized sun Cochiolo is after. Rather, Paul Thorpe, The owner of Body Manipulations, is making 14 tiny, precise strikes with hot, thin strips of galvanized steel on Cochiolo’s back. “Like a barbecue,” Thorpe chirps.
OK, so most people don’t like picturing themselves on a barbecue. But a small segment of San Francisco’s and New York’s gay and heavy-metal communities have been doing it for the past five years, and now the practice is catching on . . . a bit. You don’t have to have a pierced tongue to want a heart-shaped sear on your bicep, branded professionals insist. Thorpe, one of a handful of “body manipulators” who have delved into the ancient art of branding, says some of his clients show up in suits and ties. For them, getting seared with hot bits of metal is an exhilarating test of endurance, like climbing a mountain. But for those who can’t shake the notion that branding is just a controlled, third-degree burn, shaving nicks may be mutilation enough.
