My best guess is that my dog snapped at a bee yesterday and ended up being stung on the tongue.

Aside from a morning walk and an afternoon walk the only time Ellie was outside and unattended was for an hour or two in the early afternoon. From about 11-1 she was crated in the car with all the windows open while I did a few errands.

Around 4:30 she comes into the room and is acting like she is having dry heaves. She was also pawing at her mouth like she was trying to get something out of her mouth. She had not had any toys, bones or food since the early am. She did have a frozen yogurt about an hour earlier.

Looking in her mouth I didn't see any evidence of an item in her mouth but the back of her throat did look a little swollen. She continued the dry heaving/pawing at her mouth. I immediately checked her mouth again and noticed that there was a lump swelling on her tongue. It was the size of a quarter and the diameter of a really large marble about midway on her tongue and to one side.

After about 30 seconds of panic I remembered I had Benadryl in the bathroom cabinet. I gave her one capsule in string cheese. She seemed to settle within a few minutes, took a little snooze and by 7 pm the swelling seemed to be almost completely resolved.

Long story, but thought I would share. Ellie does like to snap at bees in the garden and now I know firsthand the type of reaction she can have -- and will stock my car and training bag with Benadryl from now on.

The best I can figure is it was a bee sting even though she didn't really start to distress for 2-3 hours afterward -- does that make sense? Any other ideas of anything to do in the situation other than the Benadryl?

I don't think Starbuck learned a lesson from her encounter. I still see her watching the bees.

That's right Keith -- now I remember your post earlier this summer.

Did you make a vet visit with her or take any other first aid measures?

She was 80% better by morning, so we didn't go to the vet.

And she didn't seem to have any trouble breathing.

Bayley and I unfortunately encountered a hornet's nest in the ground last fall!! Not pleasant for either of us, she got the worst of it, but fortunately she didn't have much of a reaction. I gave her Benadryl to take care of any swelling. Needless to say we don't go on that trail anymore!!