My dog has a dry honking cough, worse at night and when he pulls on the lead — is something stuck in his throat?

First, the line that overrides everything else: if his gums go blue, grey or purple, if he is working to breathe while resting, if he coughs up white froth, if he collapses, or if the cough started immediately after he chewed a stick or a bone, that is an emergency — your vet or your nearest emergency clinic now, not in the morning.

With that said, what you are describing fits the airway far better than something lodged in the throat. A dry, honking, throat-clearing cough that is set off by the lead and by excitement, two weeks after boarding, points at infectious tracheobronchitis picked up from other dogs, or, in some small dogs, at a windpipe that flattens as they breathe. A soft, wet cough that gets worse when an older dog lies down at night is a completely different animal: that one points at the heart or the lungs and leads to a completely different workup. Only an examination, a stethoscope on his chest, and usually a chest x-ray, separate them.

Bring these with you. Count his breaths per minute while he is asleep — one breath is the chest going up and down — and write the number down; sustained above roughly 35 to 40 is a red flag. Video the cough on your phone, because the video changes the diagnosis more often than any description does. Swap the collar for a harness today; it takes the pressure straight off the windpipe. Note whether it is worse at night or with excitement.

And keep him away from other dogs until your vet has told you it is not contagious. Your vet will weigh the boarding history against what she hears in his chest.