It’s Illegal to put your dog in the back of the truck
In Anchorage, Alaska – Some may not have a problem with putting a dog in the back of a pickup, but if you did that in Alaska, wouldn’t you soon have frozen dogicicles instead of pets?
9.36.150 Carrying animals on outside of vehicle. No person driving a motor vehicle shall transport any animal in the back of the vehicle in a space intended for any load on the vehicle on a street unless the space is enclosed or has side and tail walls to a height of at least 46 inches extending vertically from the floor, or the animal is cross tethered to the vehicle, or is protected by a secured container or cage, in a manner which will prevent the animal from being thrown, falling or jumping from the vehicle. (CAC 9.36.150; AO No. 78-72; AO No. 82-191; AO No. 89-52)
2 days ago I watched a large, shiny new pickup with a deep back end speed down I-5 south out of Everett, passing cars going 60 and 65. It was dragging something that looked like black ripped up rubber and turned out to be a black lab being dragged by the tail, bouncing all over as if every bone was broken. When I realized what it was, it finally broke loose and lay, hopefully long dead at that point, along one of the lines in the middle of the 5 lane highway with morning traffic speeding by. The dog’s tail was completely stripped of fur and skin and was just a long pink appendage. It was the most horrifying and despairing thing I’ve ever seen, and that 10 seconds or so that I saw this happening keeps playing over and over in my head. Dogs should NOT be allowed in the backs of trucks unless they’re in a crate and substantially secured. I would NEVER put an animal outside in the back of a vehicle. Take your dog in the cab with you, what is wrong with you people. I’ve seen dogs that are terrified in the backs of trucks, and dogs that are apparently having a ball, and NOT SECURED AT ALL. And you think that’s ok. “He loves it! She’s fine! She does what I tell her, or she’ll learn fast enough if she gets hurt!” Our animal laws are slowly getting better but are far from where animals are truly protected. “It’s just an animal!” “It’s just a DOG!” That kind of thinking comes from someone who shouldn’t have the responsibility of having an animal in their “care”, and laws should protect the animals and us from them. The truck I saw did pull over after the dog’s body broke free, so I assume they weren’t dragging the dog on purpose, which should put people away for life. I wish I’d been able to call the police, but the part I witnessed happened in about 10 seconds anyway – which is a long time for cruelty and horror, and at speeds over 6o. I would have it in. As for not wanting your “slobbery dog” in the cab with you, don’t take him/her with you at all! If you dislike your dog so much and think they don’t suffer, you shouldn’t have one. We’re not catering to animals by any means, we’re catering to people who can’t learn and don’t want anyone telling them what to do. In other words, a certain kind of juvenile population. That’s profoundly sad.
Dionne, you say “Believe its okay to have a dog in the back IF its well trained:” and “i treat my animals like my own fkn child”. I presume you’ve trained your “own fkn child” to do as he’s told too so I guess the next time you take him with you, you’ll put him in the back to prove your point.
Believe its okay to have a dog in the back IF its well trained, i owned two dogs & they both obeyed by staying in until i allowed them out….some ppl have to mind there own fkn business, get a life! Losers, i treat my animals like my own fkn child….they are spoiled as well…..
I recently found a dog on the side of the road with its back two legs, from the “knee” joint down, mangled to the bone to the point that they looked like hamburger meat. The dog was bleeding from the mouth and was horribly injured, and still it lifted its head up pleadingly when I approached, and let me pet it. I stood there for about five minutes, trying to get through to animal control to come out and help, but unfortunately animal control turned out to be closed for the weekend due to recent budget cuts. As I as about to call an emergency vet, this dog’s owners came driving back down the road in a big truck with a matching dog chained on a single chain and neck collar to the back of their big flatbed… no restraining walls on any side of the flatbed, whatsoever. This poor dog I found on the side of the road looked to me, based on its extensive injuries, like it had fallen over the side of the truck while they were driving (at least 50mph based on the speed limit) and was dragged along the road on its back legs until its head finally slipped out of its collar. The owners obviously didn’t notice for a while that the dog was even gone, because I found the dog all alone with no other cars in sight on the long country highway. When the owners did come back, they saw the dog was so badly injured that it would probably need to be euthanized. I said I’d try to call the local mobile vet, but they said they didn’t want to make the dog suffer any longer in waiting for a vet to come out or in driving it to a vet’s office, and they took a rifle out of the truck and shot the dog on the spot. I was horrified. I took down their license plate and called the highway patrol as soon as I got home, and was told that unless the dog in question was a hazard to drivers in the road or unless I was still there with the people and situation, I should wait and call animal control in a couple of days when they reopened on Monday. Meanwhile, these people had the rest of the weekend to potentially go driving around with the remaining dog chained in the same way on the flatbed. I wish I had thought to photograph the dog and its injuries with my cell phone while I was there and had the chance, and I also should have thought to call the police immediately to come out while the people were still there, but it was an utterly shocking experience and things happened fast once the owners showed up again. When I went back with a camera, the people and the dog’s body were already gone. Our current laws and penalties protecting animals are not NEARLY strict enough, in my opinion. If you think this is a stupid law, I hope you will rethink your opinion after reading this.
Not stupid, just sad that the law is on the books in the first place.
This is the same uniform law in almost every state. If it’s stupid in Alaska it must be stupid everywhere else, but then again, the people who would do this to their dog if it were not illegal are the stupid ones.
Ok, betzilla, yeah, dogs are going to be the prominent species, and I guess when they do, YOUR dog is gonna make you eat, sleep and shit OUTSIDE too. You don’t have a brain.
You two are idiots. If you see lots of dogs around on the road dead then you know that their owner didn’t give 2 shits about the animal. There’s soo many people who treat their dogs like ‘family’ and say they are soo smart. Well if that dog was smart it wouldn’t jump out of a moving vehicle going 70mph. I mean I’ve never felt the urge to jump out of a truck. Ohh and to greg.. you must be someone who let’s the dog lick out of your mouth. I mean hanging a person for the dog being stupid. Hahahahahah! Good one! Greg- its a dog, a fucking animal, and if you care about it then you’ll make precautions so it doesn’t get out of the back of the truck. But having to transport your slobbery ass canine in your truck cab like a person is fuckin retarted. Start actually using your brains guys, or dogs are going to be the prominent species and we will be catering to them. Fuck that! Straight up! I have a dog and he lives outside the house, eats and sleeps and shits outside and there’s no reason he ever needs to be pampered with air conditioning and a seat belt.
OMG who is this person who thinks Dog “Jump” out of the back of trucks. It’s PHYSICS YOU IDIOT! Just put your slobbery dog (“fucking animal”) in a Crate. It’s the law because – perhaps more than one dog has BEEN THROWN from a truck into traffic causing death to Humans. You IDIOT.
I agree that this is not a stupid law. Too many dogs are injured or killed by either falling or jumping from these vehicles, not to mention the injuries to pets because of flying debris while riding in the backs of trucks.
I love the law, Im a truck driver and I see dogs dead all over the road and highways. If I could create a law it would be anyone with a dog in the back of a truck unleashed would be hanged in public. Anyone who thinks this is a dumb law probably voted for Bush twice and lets get these people out of America. America has no place anymore for those who choose to be uneducated. -Greg