Dear Editor:
An open letter to pet columnist Joan Klucha:
I read your column of Sept. 6 with interest. It was entitled Dogs Are Precious Cargo and I was curious to see if you might offer advice about safely transporting pets in a motor vehicle. You didn’t, so I’d like to share a story that may help others.
One day when my Yorkshire-Maltese cross Gibson was just a puppy, my two young daughters, he and I hopped into our car to make a trip to the library.
They were in the back seat as I backed out of my garage, when all of a sudden, Gibson was hurled towards the rear car door with a yelp. I immediately stopped the car, and asked the girls what had happened.
They were just as perplexed as I was, so I got out of the vehicle to look in the back seat. As I did, I saw that part of Gibson’s leash had been left hanging outside the vehicle and had become entangled in the back wheel. Fortunately, when I backed up, the force had ripped the leash from the collar around his neck.
Rattled, we all continued to the library. I remained outside while the girls went in, and noticed an older gentleman with two Samoyeds, one of which looked pretty beaten-up and was missing a leg. He relayed the story of how he had been away on business, and his wife’s vehicle had been T-boned in an intersection while she was driving with the two dogs, both of which on impact were thrown through the windshield and onto the pavement.
The vet who treated them recommended that they both be put down due to the severity of their injuries, but the owner insisted they wait until his return to make that decision. Ultimately, they decided to try to rehabilitate the dogs, and here they were six months later, traumatized and partially disabled, but alive and doing OK.
He further advised, that learning from that experience, his dogs now only travel in kennels secured with the seatbelt. Of course, I promptly headed to the pet store and purchased a kennel for my car; and began to tell all of my friends with dogs the story.
A year after the incident, I ran into one such friend who sheepishly confided that she had not heeded my advice. Her dog had experienced the exact same “freak accident” with his leash as mine, but when the leash caught in the tire, it had tightened around and severed his leg.
He survived, and was managing on three legs, as many dogs do, but it needn’t have happened. As an aside, harnesses are also available that have a strap through which a seatbelt can be threaded to secure a dog.
Mary-Ann Booth
West Vancouver
What are your thoughts? Send us a letter via email by clicking here or post a comment below.
