Car Crash Puts Man on a Mission about Pet Safety
Animal Radio Articles
- Current article
- Animal Radio Audio Articles
- Cat Spends Days at Posh Hotel
- Pet Cremations Made Into Jewelry
- 12 Year Old Girl Has Idea to Feed Hungry Dogs
- Walking Your Dog To Health
- What To Do About Bowser When You’re Breaking Up
- Tricks for Giving Your Pet Medication
- Car Crash Puts Man on a Mission About Pet Safety
- Dogs Detect Cancer in Patients’ Breath
- Gardening With Your Pet in Mind
- Ten Most Common Pet Misconceptions
- Perilous Poisons
- Bob Barker
- Feline heartworms: A Hidden and Deadly Threat
- Veterinarians Fight the War on Terror
- Pet Census: Cats Outnumber Dogs
- National Canine Weight Check
- Presidential Race or Dogfight?
- Pocket Pets
- More Wills Make Provisions for Pets
- Therapy Kangaroo
- Child Raises Over $30,000 for the Animals
- Dog First Aid
- Detect Heart Disease, Failure in Cats
- Dogs, Cats Not Immune to Breast Cancer
On a frigid February evening, Thomas Rodriguez climbed behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile with his 7-year old miniature poodle, Holly, perched in his lap. The pair was headed to visit a friend in a nursing home. They did not count on hitting a patch of ice. “We were in a head-on collision,” remembers Rodriguez, 75, a retired airline employee.
“I was okay, but Holly was sitting on my left leg when it happened, and the airbag came right out and hit her. I could hear her whimpering, and I thought Oh my God, I’ve broken her neck!” Rodriguez asked the police officer at the scene to call an ambulance. He said, “Are you hurt?” “No, not for me, for my dog, please call an ambulance, I’ll pay for it!” But he couldn’t call an ambulance for a dog. So, a passerby rushed Rodriguez and Holly to the Animal Emergency Center, where the severely injured poodle was treated for the next several days.
Now fast-forward four years, Holly is completely blind since the accident, says Rodriguez, who has made it his mission to educate the public about the dangers of dogs riding in cars with airbags. People strap their children in the back and they protect them, but we don’t think about our pets. Veterinarians often see dogs who have been driving down the road with their heads sticking out the window and they get a bug in their eye or other foreign debris.
If Rodriguez had his way, all dogs would ride in the backseat secured with safety restraints. Holly now travels strapped inside a carrier in the backseat, and Rodriguez says it doesn’t bother her at all.