A "Key" Lesson

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Between Christmas and the New Year, my husband, Wayne, and I were visiting friends in Saratoga, NY.  During one of the less snowy days and having cabin fever, we ventured out to shop downtown taking the dogs with us. Upon leaving the first shop and looking toward our car, we froze.  My stomach sank as panic bubbled up inside me.  The back driver’s side door of our van stood wide open.  Our dogs were in the rear of the van, so luckily both were safe. This was not the first time we had discovered our van with an open door . 

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Almost 5 years before, we had been in Virginia Beach shopping and had taken the dogs.  We stopped at a popular furniture store on one of the main thoroughfares and locked the car before we entered.  After about 45 minutes, my husband sat down, tired from having to shop.  A little while later, an announcement came over the loud speaker looking for the owner of a gray van.  Sounding like it could be our van, he went out to investigate.  When he did not return, my stomach churning and my mind a blank, I followed.  Horror struck, I saw the hatch of our van WIDE OPEN.  And so began a terrifying journey that encompassed almost two days.

  

Kiowa showing off

Fix your ear, Emma

My husband routinely stores the car remote in his back pant’s pocket.  Somehow, the button that controls the hatch was pressed when he sat, opening it.  What followed seemed like a lesson in futility.  Our male greyhound, Rusty, was safe, but our female, Kazi, was GONE.  Where to look first?  We both reeled from the question, our thoughts jumbled.  The road in front of the store had eight lanes, and an intersecting road nearby had eleven,  Thoughts of what could happen to our dog left us weak in the knees .  We searched and searched, walking and driving the area the rest of the day, a black cloud over our efforts.  When darkness fell, we traveled back home with only one dog.  The ride, one of the most miserable trips I had ever experienced, was filled with dark thoughts worrying about our little dog.

Being exhausted from little sleep, we were on the road early the next morning to begin our search anew.  Our local greyhound rescue had worked up a poster which we distributed.  We called and visited animal shelters and animal control.   An announcement about Kazi was made on the radio, and people called us with sightings or just to help us search.  All this being done in the pouring rain which matched our moods completely.  We were at it until darkness fell, but, this time miraculously, she was found. 

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The range of the waves of a car remote can travel farther than you may think.   The remote can be triggered, and a door opened even if it is locked.  We were unable to get the remote disabled, so our immediate solution was to use the valet key when taking the dogs in the car with us.

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We thought we had this problem solved until the incident in Saratoga.  My car remote is encased in a cover to prevent accidental pressing, and I kept it in a safe part of my bag.  But this time I was the culprit.  Another key on the keychain had pressed the door button on the remote.  We were just lucky that it wasn’t the hatch control.

When traveling with your animals, be on high alert as to the location of your remote.  If you have a valet key, use it instead.  If not, make sure that your car remote is safely stored so that a mishap cannot occur.