'Dog days of summer': Road trips with Buster entail unique risks
Driving a dog anywhere exposes the owner to some risks beyond those to the upholstery and carpet.
Americans are hitting the road for summer trips in record numbers. For many, the specter of contracting COVID-19 is seen fading in the rear-view mirror, not looming ahead. The open road calls more alluring than confinement in a large metal tube at 30,000 feet with sneezing strangers.
The family road trip is back, despite high gas prices, and the family dog is often along for the ride now that many hotels are dog-friendly. The dog days of summer are here.
Is it safe to take Buster in the family sedan for the long drive along with the kids, luggage, and sunscreen? Driving a dog anywhere exposes the owner to some risks beyond those to the upholstery and carpet. Laws are on the books in many states to protect dogs from danger and dog owners from liability. Preparing for a trip with the dog requires more than opening the car door and saying, “Hop up, Buster!”
What could possibly go wrong?
Dogs and dog owners can create three kinds of risk during a road trip, long or short: dangers to the dog, dangers to the driver and other passengers, and dangers to others.
The nuclear family of golden retrievers in the Subaru commercials seem to do just fine, though those ads and YouTube are the only places I’ve seen dogs driving cars. Many auto insurance policies cover the owner for accidents caused by permissive users — those authorized by the owner — but I wouldn’t suggest swapping seats with Buster and letting him steer for the next 50 miles. Owners and users should at least be of the same species.
Human drivers’ mistakes create unintended consequences for their canine passengers. Some examples:
- Dogs that aren’t restrained, such as an untethered dog in the bed of a pickup truck, may ignore their training and jump from the vehicle if sufficiently enthused. If the truck is moving, the injury could be much worse than a broken leg. The same is true for dogs in a car or truck’s cab if a window is left open wide enough for the dog to squeeze through.
- An unrestrained dog can become a missile in an accident. In a 25 mile per hour crash, the dog generates a force equal to 40 times its body weight, according to a 2014 Allianz report. A 10-pound Yorkie would strike the windshield, or a passenger, with 400 pounds of force. And a dog in the front passenger seat can suffer severe injury or death from airbags, just as young children can.
- We’ve all seen dogs with their heads sticking out of a moving car’s window, mouth open, tongue out, and enjoying the breeze. As the car’s speed increases, so does the risk of eye injury to the dog from airborne debris. There’s a reason why people sit behind windshields. Dogs’ eyes are as vulnerable as ours.
- Leaving a dog in a car during warm weather can be a fatal mistake. It doesn’t have to be Las Vegas in July. The American Kennel Club advises, “The inside of a vehicle parked in 70-degree weather can reach 100 degrees in just 20 minutes. On very hot days, temperatures inside parked cars can climb to 140 degrees Fahrenheit in less than one hour.” Dogs’ built-in cooling system, panting, is different than ours, making them more susceptible to heatstroke and death. Leaving the window open “a crack” helps only a little.
- Travel poses a less obvious risk to dogs: exposure to the parvovirus, a disease that kills 91% of its victims if not promptly treated. The rates of parvo vaccination vary by state and locality.
These same owner oversights can harm the owners as well as their dogs beyond the large veterinary bills or loss of a loved companion. There can be other costs and even legal consequences.
In 2021, Michigan State University School of Law published an article listing 31 states that have laws against leaving an animal in a parked vehicle in circumstances that endanger its life. Fifteen states have laws allowing anyone to rescue a distressed animal. For the neglectful owner, the consequences range from a traffic citation to a felony conviction for animal cruelty with a fine of up to $20,000 and a prison term of 16, 24, or 36 months.
Eight states, including California, now require dogs in cars to be restrained by canine-specific harnesses that protect them from most injuries, similar to the straps in little ones’ car seats.
Dogs will be dogs
Dogs are most comfortable on their home turf with their “peeps.” Dogs that routinely sit at home at their owners’ feet or on their laps may suddenly try to do the same thing in the car. There may be no clearer definition of “distracted driving” than suddenly having a 70-pound animal in the driver’s footwell.
Though they may enjoy car rides and the new sights and sounds, as soon as a dog is alone in the car, even for a short time, some become anxious. Anxious dogs behave differently than calm dogs and may damage the car and its contents.
My wife and I learned this lesson the hard way 40 years ago when our first dog, Pearl, rode with us in our Volkswagen Vanagon to see relatives. Pearl had never been upset in the car, but this time, in an unfamiliar place and temporarily alone, she ripped up the ceiling fabric and destroyed one sound system ceiling speaker. Our insurance covered the repairs after the hefty deductible.
Anxious dogs are more prone to bite than calm dogs. (The same is true of people, figuratively.) No discussion of dog owners’ liability would be complete without dog bites. The Insurance Information Institute has reported that 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. Dog bites equate to one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims, with an average cost per claim in 2020 of $50,245. Greater than 50% of dog bites occur on the dog owner’s property. Since dogs spend most of their waking hours at the owner’s home, it stands to reason that the incidence of bites per hour is higher off-site.
As a former Hearing Officer for the San Francisco County Department of Health, I conducted public hearings in dog cases, mostly about dog bites. We can’t always know when or why a dog is about to bite, but being out of its territory, especially in crowded places with many strangers and loud sounds, can trigger even the friendliest dog to succumb to anxiety and protect itself using its only means. A sturdy leash or harness provides a control for the owner and a sense of security for the dog.
As we roam from our homes this summer with our four-legged friends, let’s be attentive and respectful of their needs and of the laws that protect them and us.
Louie Castoria (lcastoria@kdvlaw.com) is a partner in Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP, a national law firm. On July 1, 2021, he won his first U.S. Supreme Court case in his 41-year career, Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta, Case No. 19-255, a First Amendment case. He is a mediator with CourtCall Online Dispute Resolution and CastoriaDisputeResolution.com and an adjunct professor of law at Golden Gate University.
This article does not provide legal advice. The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily the firm’s or its clients’.
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