Poorly car!
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Our sixteen-year-old car is languishing in the local car repair garage. It is the vehicle we use to transport the dogs. It is sturdy, workmanlike, and effective over rough ground as it has good ground clearance. It is not comfortable, and is only used for short journeys of less than ten miles.
Keeping dogs safe in cars is a concern. For a while, we had a crate in the boot and thought the dogs were secure in it. Then we read a couple of articles about cars being involved in accidents and the owners finding the crate impossible to open. Crates were abandoned.
Our dog box has a tailgate, through which the dogs enter the vehicle. There is strong netting separating their section from the driver/passenger compartment. Dogs have been ejected through the front windscreen on occasion, a horrifying accident which would surely never be forgotten, and so we took steps to avoid that.
The dogs are happy in their part of the car. One day, a following driver kept honking at us. We were puzzled, as we were not speeding or driving excessively slowly, and we were on a quiet road, the one we live on. Eventually, we stopped to find out what was causing the disturbance and discovered that we had not shut the tailgate. Three Labradors stood stoically and obediently, awaiting our word to disembark.
We praised the dogs, shut the tailgate firmly and thanked the thoughtful driver who had alerted us.
Months ago, it became impossible to lock the dog car. That is, we could lock it but had to call the AA to unlock it, so we stopped locking it. The dog car is not a desirable automobile - no-one in their right mind would steal it, so we had no fears on that score. The most valuable things in it are our dogs and our walking poles, which we never leave in at the end of a walk.
Last week, the side door and the petrol cap locked themselves.
Gremlins? Boggarts? Poltergeists?
Driver and passenger doors were still operational and so were the tailgate and the door at the passenger side of the rear compartment. The fear was that they too would lock themselves, and then the dogs would be trapped inside, with no means of releasing them. The strong netting has since been removed and the poorly car is enjoying an enforced holiday at the garage, awaiting spare parts.
Meanwhile, the dogs are appreciating the unexpected pleasure of travelling in the back of the eighteen-year-old estate car we use for journeys longer than thirty minutes – it’s more comfortable than the dog car.
People often ask why we use a car to take the dogs for a walk. We like to walk in the woods, which are a fifteen to twenty-minute walk from our house along narrow pavements. We prefer to take a short drive and let the dogs run free quicker than they otherwise would.
