Unfortunate Incident

Question
My best friend had a beautiful lab..she was great with the kids!! But last week she got into a bag of chips which was left on the floor and suffocated in the bag. They are feeling horrible and I want to confirm something that may put their guilt at ease. I've had labs all my life, and they eat the stupidiest of things..in fact my lab ate a fish hook with bait and passed it. But my understanding with labs is that their first instinct is to exhale, and they exhale while eating, so could it have been that the lab choked while eating?.. and because of that inhaled to force the blockage down and taking the air out of the chip bag, thus creating the suffocating? and why couldn't the lab get it off?..I'm only asking an expert to put their minds at ease.

Thank You.

Answer
I am very sorry to hear of that.  It is hard to say just what happened.  When something like that happens, dogs tend to panic and fight to get free.  To cough to dislodge something, you must first inhale.  The dog may have been struggling to inhale for a cough.