Stories about Snow Wind Dogs & Puppies
Why Crating Your Dog While They Are Riding In The Car Is Important
by Mary Strom-Bernard on 04/20/12
Recently we had one of our puppies from Karsten & Copper Tops litter go to her new forever home. Her new family was so excited about seeing her as they had been waiting for several months. They had already named her Tilly. Tilly's new family lives in California and it just happened to work out that I had a friend traveling to shows in California and they were willing to transport Tilly with them and I arranged to have the new owners meet my friends at a predetermined exit and time.
Tilly's journey down to California went very smoothly and her very excited new owners picked her up from my friend and headed home with her. The husband and wife were driving along Hwy 101 in their SUV when the husband who was driving started to cough uncontrollably and he passed out while driving. The car vered off the road and became airborn at which time the airbags deployed and the windows imploaded from the force of the accident. The SUV finally came to rest on a bunch of trees. The husband was still unconcious when his wife started CPR and he regained conciousness quickly and like a good dog owner his first question was: "Where is the puppy" They looked all around the car and no puppy. The wife got out and looked around and could not find little Tilly.....oh so scarey!
Soon the ambulance and firefighters arrived and told the husband that he needed to go to the hospital and his wife said she would go with him and he said: "No" We need to find the puppy." The firefighters started to look around trying to locate little Tilly, when one of the fireman decided to go back up to the highway where the car originally vered off, and there was little Tilly wandering around in the grass, totally unscathed and unaware where her new family had gone. The fireman slowly approached Tilly and picked her up and took her to her owners who were relieved beyond words - tears and hugs were given all around.
With all that was going on the family had no idea when or how Tilly actually left the car and whether she jumped out when the windows emploaded or she was ejected. Parsons are tough and also very stoic; though Tilly sufferred no lasting affects from the accident. She was just so happy to see her new family again with her tail wagging furiously.
The morale of the story is that anyone transporting a dog or puppy should have them in a crate that is secured in the car either by seat belt or straps. It seems so natural to hold a puppy on your lap for the ride home but they are so much safer in their crate. Life is never predictable.
I think there were little angels watching over Tilly as she could have just as easily wandered onto a busy highway but instead she stayed on the side of the road in the grass....:) Lucky family that no one was seriously injured and they are all home now enjoying Tilly and her love of tennis balls and water.
