DENVER -- An Arvada man couldn't believe dash cam video captured from his pick-up truck as a dog tumbled from a moving vehicle on Colorado's Interstate 70.
Mike Kannely said he was driving home when he saw a dog put its head out the window Tuesday afternoon on I-70 near the Youngfield exit in Wheat Ridge.
"Rush hour traffic is obviously started here, so luckily, we were moving kind of slowly and all of a sudden there was a dog in front of my car," said Kannely while watching the video. "Thank goodness I was able to stop. It would kill me to hurt or injure an animal in any way."
The dog, one of two in the vehicle in the leftmost lane of the Interstate, seemed to jump, then fall out of a rear window of the Chevrolet vehicle.
Several cars in surrounding lanes pulled off to the side of the road and stopped, and it appeared that no crashes occurred as a result.
The pup also didn't seem to incur much injury, but did appear to be limping as its owner rushed to pick the puppy up.
Kannely said he hopes drivers will see the video and learn to roll up their windows so dogs can't jump from them.
"I really hope that dog is OK," he said. "People need to roll up their windows!"
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald with Alameda East Veterinary Hospital said they see similar cases almost weekly.
"We see the lucky ones that survive -- So many of them are killed instantly," said Fitzgerald. "To have a dog jump out of a moving car, you think, 'Who would do that?' But they’re not little people, they’re animals. Your dog depends on you for good decisions."
He recommends traveling with pets in a crate or car safety device that can be found at pet stores, vet offices or online.
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