The Preventive Vet
All of the news reports (correctly) point out that this story underscores the importance of microchipping your pets. What most of them fail to even mention though is the more important lesson that should be taken from this tragic accident - which is that all pets should be properly restrained during travel.
While it is great that this family got their dog back, and truly it is, what would be even better is if the accident had never happened in the first place. Then they not only wouldn’t have lost their dog, but they also wouldn’t have lost their husband/father and their daughter/sister.
PLEASE everybody, don’t let this important lesson be lost and don’t let the death of these two people be in vain. Don’t forget, unrestrained pets not only cause accidents where occupants of their vehicle die, but they also cause accidents where occupants of other vehicles die too. Coupled with the fact that unrestrained pets can also bite emergency medical technicians and other ‘first responders’, and that, yes, these pets can also go missing, you can hopefully see that there really is no good reason why pets shouldn’t be properly restrained during travel.
Please help spread the word, it may be you life or that of someone you love that you save by doing so.
Please also visit the Paws To Click website (www.PawsToClick.com) for more information and to ‘take the pledge’ to drive responsibly with your pets.
Thank you!
You all know how I feel about pet travel safety, right? (If not, check out my previous blog post on the issue - click here. But here’s a hint… I call myself The Preventive Vet ;-) Well, I’ve got some great news to report - I’ve found my ‘soul-mates’ in the pet product business, and their name is Bergan!
This post is dedicated to my friend Reed Coleman, as well as to all the dogs and cats who are injured or die each year in vehicular accidents, and to the Husky dog I saw riding unrestrained, with an obvious look of anxiety on its face, in the bed of a small red pickup truck heading north on the I5 last week. The former is still very much with us, the middle ones sadly are not, and it is my sincere hope that the latter is – but I recognize that there is a distinct possibility that one day, that poor dog will jump, fall, or be thrown from the bed of that pickup. I hope it doesn’t happen, and I know its so easily preventable. So if anyone knows the owner of this pickup (red, believe it was a Toyota, with Washington plates) please direct them to this post, you may just save their dog’s life by doing so.
As you have likely deduced by now, todays post is about the importance, and ease, of restraining your pets during vehicular travel (this includes not just cars, but trucks, RVs, and motorcycles too!).
To start off, let’s establish that there are many reasons to appropriately restrain your pets during vehicular travel:
