Accident occurs with dog in driver's seat

Freeport Journal-Standard ^ | 16 April 03 | Nathan Legue

[Mr. Silverback]

FREEPORT -- When a dog took the wheel of a parked Chevy S-10 on Wednesday, he proved an unreliable driver.

Karl Harmon left his truck on State Avenue near The Journal-Standard with his two dogs sitting in the front seat while he went to use the bathroom. When he returned, it was resting against another car about a hundred feet away.

"I thought I had the gearshift set, but one of the dogs must've bumped it," Harmon said. "Usually they sit pretty good."

The car rolled across the street and struck another vehicle owned by Linda Conder, an advertising sales rep at The Journal-Standard. When Conder looked outside to investigate, she thought someone had suffered a heart attack because no one was in the truck.

"One of the dogs was sitting with his hand up there on the wheel and the other was sitting right next to him," Conder said. "It would've been funny if it hadn't damaged my car."

The culprits were Mandy and Diamond, two mixed breeds who occupied the cab of the truck. Neither they nor their owner received a citation. It is not clear which dog was driving at the time of the accident.

The pickup's license plate reads "8 PAW DR."

[Mr. Silverback]

Unfortunately, the J-S doesn't post their political cartoons on the web. The next day they had a cartoon of a police officer giving a dog (in the driver's seat of the truck) a ticket for chasing parked cars.

[Mr. Silverback]

Pinging the king!

[farmfriend]

Reminds me of the commercial with the dog driving the truck, chasing the ducks right into the pond.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

I didn't think she was that ugly!!

[Bobby777]

that's why they need to have mandatory driving tests for dogs, and not just let them drive after passing the written test ... and if they've had too many Milk-Bones, well, then they're just all over the road ...

[lilylangtree]

Wonder if the dogs were after a cat?

[ffusco]

LOL

[EBITDA]

Here, hold mah dawg's beer!

[TennTuxedo]

[hellinahandcart]

[Charles Henrickson]

[PoisedWoman]

My dog kept trying so hard to get in the driver's seat while I was driving that I had to buy a crate to keep her in the back seat.

She's a Keeshond, bred to ride in the prow of Dutch canal boats and bark a warning when the boat heads for the wall of the foggy canal as farmers make their way to market to sell wheels of cheese. In fact, Keeshond means cheese dog. Perhaps these mutts had a few strands of Keeshond DNA, which would excuse their behavior.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Great photo of Natalie Mange!

[r9etb]

A lesson for Mr. Harmon about the proper use of the parking brake.....

[Mr.Atos]

Who's to say the dog didn't do a great job of steering clear of the moving cars. His paw just couldn't reach the brake is all.

[Corin Stormhands]

Dog ping.

[Sgt Hulka 123]

"Don't drive angry".

[Calvin Locke]

Reminds me of a setup on some show: Cops get called to scene of "accident" - car into fence.

Complaining homeowner "where you been? I've been calling all morning".

Cop: "Who was driving?"

HO: "The white one"

Car has two dogs in the front seat...

Dispatcher on the Radio: "Be on the look out - [that car] - stolen from the Animal Hospital...

[bmwcyle]