dog that coughs all the time

Question
last summer we were given a female pitbull. one day while watering the yard. i found out that she likes to play with the water hose(jump in the water and try to grab the water coming out of the hose. the next day she started coughing. that lasted for a couple of weeks. then all of the sudden it stopped. late this summer she started doing it again. but she is real active playing with the kids chasing the ball and playing with the other dog. she coughs and weezes all the time when she is playing or sleeping and she gags a lot. first a little phelm (some only a couple of times it had a little blood spots in it). could it be heartworms?? now she just gags and there is nothing but it sounds so horrible and painful. but she acts like she is not in any pain but it would be hard to believe that there is no pain as hard as she coughs? thank you for any help

Answer
One of the signs of heartworms is coughing.  If she is not on heartworm prevention or has never been tested then I would definitely have that done.  Coughing can be caused by many other things as well.  An enlarged heart can cause it, as well as a collapsed trachea.  Bordatella (kennel cough) can also cause coughing of course and if your dog is not vaccinated and has been around other dogs then that is possible as well.  I would definitely recommend taking her to the vet to find out exactly why she is coughing and gagging.

Amanda