Will your dog become an auto accident statistic?

Chapter 7 from Puppies chew shoes, don't they? - Driving with Your Puppy

Here are three simple rules to keep your puppy safe when you take him for rides, now and for the rest of his life.

FIRST. NEVER EVER drive on a paved road with your dog loose in the back of an open pickup truck. Ever. If you don’t get why, you should be the proud parent of a goldfish ... not a dog. Oh, and if you’re saying “hey, the dog’s on his leash back there, attached to the side of the truck, so he’s alright”. Hmm, good going. Now instead of being thrown from the truck in a collision, he’ll break his neck when you slam on the brakes. 

SECOND. NEVER EVER drive with your dog on your lap. And you say, “But Fluffy loves to help me drive”. Well then, since Fluffy is making the decisions ... has she thought this through? What happens when you are in an accident and your air bag deploys? Fluffy will either be flattened or become a small, furry projectile. I don’t know the velocity of an airborne dog but I’m guessing she’ll be flying pretty fast toward the dash or windshield. 

THIRD. IF YOU HAVE a passenger side air bag, either disarm it or put your dog in the back seat. Why? What happens when you are in an accident and your air bag deploys? Think about air bags and airborne dogs. And read the second rule again. 

Small breed dogs can be crated in your back seat, as long as the crate is anchored to the vehicle so that it does not go tumbling when you take corners too fast or brake hard. You don’t want your dog vomiting because he bounces around in the crate like he is on some insane thrill ride at the amusement park for one purpose only: to make dogs miserable. Make sure he isn’t sliding all over the place inside the crate by putting a non-skid rug (like for bathrooms) in there for him to lay on. 

Why all the fuss about where your dog rides? Because there are enough ways for dogs to be injured without their people endangering them every time they get in a vehicle. Of note: if you are involved in a collision and your doors fly open, your dog will probably run from the vehicle. He will be frightened, possibly injured and disoriented. He may wander off and get lost or be hit by another car. 

Another scenario: you are in a collision that renders you unconscious. When emergency medical personnel arrive, they are there to assist you, not your dog. If your dog is in his crate or tethered inside your vehicle, he stands a good chance of being cared for after humans are tended to. Make sure your cell phone includes an emergency contact who can take care of your dog in a situation like this.

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You can’t make this stuff up. 

From my Brown Dog Blog, September 27, 2010

I’m a dog trainer. When working with a new client, I stress the importance of keeping Fido safe from injury. There are more ways dogs can get themselves in trouble than you can possibly imagine. And I’ve heard way too many of them. This email was in my box this morning. The client has an 11-month-old male Labrador retriever.The client: “We have to cancel our training for Wednesday. An unfortunate accident happened yesterday ... Bailey jumped out of the window of our car in the neighborhood and broke his femur. We don’t know what he was thinking. He is going to have surgery today for his hip and neutering and will have a 6 week recovery.”

Me: Didn’t know what he was THINKING? Seriously? He’s a dog. He was thinking, “something smells really interesting over there and I’m gonna check it out” or “there’s a dog ... I wonder if he wants to play” or a gazillion other possibilities. He had no clue jumping from a car could hurt him. He has people who are supposed to protect him from himself. 

Please, I beg of you – do NOT let your dog hang body parts out of your car.

Are you raising a trash can dog?

Anthropomorphism. It's a big word that refers to the interpretation of animal behavior as looking like human behavior. 

How many times have you heard someone say something like "He got in the trash again. When I walked in the door he looked guilty, turned around and left the room." Guilty? Perhaps not. Here is the dog's perspective.

7:03 a.m. 
Zach is still a puppy at 10 months. He has had breakfast, a drink of water, a poo and a pee. His Mom left the house, bidding Zach a good day. Zach settles in for his morning nap.

8:45 a.m. 
Trash trucks coming. Zach wakes up, checks out the noise, woofs, gets a sip of water, goes back to sleep.

9:17 a.m.  Zach wakes up, stretches, cruises the house. Finds his tennis ball. What good is that without someone to throw it? Something moved in the corner of the bedroom. Spider. Check it out. Gone. Where'd it go? Oh well. Moves on to the kitchen. The squirrels are in the backyard. Can't get to them. Woof. Back and forth in front of the sliding glass door . SQUIRRELS! Woof woof woof. Ugh and oh well. Zach lays down, watching the backyard, falls asleep.

10:12 a.m.
Phone rings. Zach wakes up, stretches, gets a drink of water. What is that tantalizing smell? His people sometimes put yummy stuff  in that tall box in the kitchen. Fish from last night? Did they leave some in there for the dog? They are SO good to him. Zach knocks the trash can over and starts the most fun game of the day: a treasure hunt. Finds the fishy smelling paper towel, eats it; finds the potato peelings, eats them; finds the mostly empty chocolate pudding container, licks it clean. Not much else of interest. Another sip of water and a nap on the couch.

Fast forward to 5:48 p.m.
Mom gets home from work to find the contents of the trashcan all over the kitchen floor. Zach greets her as always, tail wagging. But wait. He takes one look at her body language and knows she is not happy. Why? Did she have a bad day? She's yelling at him. Why? Her hands are all fisted and she's wearing her mad face. Zach tries to figure out what's going on when she yells "Bad dog" in her really mean voice. Zach gets the heck out of there as fast as he can. 

When telling a friend about the the latest trashcan incident, Mom will swear Zach knew he'd done something wrong because he looked guilty.

Zach lives in the now. He got into the trash hours ago. It was self-rewarding. He connects his owner's anger with her homecoming not with the scattered trash. Do you really want to teach your dog to stop joyously greeting you at the door? Of course not. You want him to stay out of the trash.

There are lots of training solutions for trash-eating dogs. But let's keep it simple. Remove the source of the problem. And the problem is not the dog. Put the trashcan somewhere Zach can't get to it. AND provide Zach with a richer daily life so he doesn't go looking for something to do. Consider a dog walker, doggy day care, interactive toys, and perhaps even another dog to keep Zach company.

Understand your dog's motivation, body language, and responses to his environment and you can successfully address any issues you may have with him. Can you think of times when you may have misunderstood your dog?