Never let a dog get behind the wheel of a car! That’s what one Aptos, California family learned recently when their dog Duke took the family vehicle for a joyride down the street.
As you might expect, things didn’t end well for the pup.
Only a few seconds into his daring drive, Duke crashed the 2001 Mercedes-Benz S430 right into the neighbor’s landscaping wall and a couple of their trash bins.
Whenever Duke got into the car that day, he didn’t purposely set out to steal the vehicle though.
It was something that happened mainly by accident. The pup’s owners left him in the car for a minute unattended while they went inside to gather up some things before going for a ride. They left Duke sitting in the back, but like most impatient dogs, he eventually found his way into the driver’s seat.
He couldn’t resist hopping up there to have a look out the front window and see what was going on. Everyone knows that the views are much better in the front seat. Unfortunately, in the process, he managed to get his leash wrapped around the gear shifter of the car.
The shifter was yanked into the neutral position and that’s when Duke’s short trip down the street began.
The car immediately started rolling backward out of the driveway and down the block until it ultimately crashed into the neighbor’s retaining wall they had around their garden. Duke’s journey in the car continued on for a few more feet until a couple of trash cans finally brought the gold sedan to a complete stop.
The neighbors heard the commotion and immediately looked out the window to see what was going on.
There in the wrecked vehicle was Duke’s smiling mug staring back at them and they couldn’t have been more shocked.
A person crashing a vehicle is one thing, but this is the only time we’ve ever heard of a canine driver getting into an accident.
The comical photo they took shows Duke sitting behind the wheel with a totally stunned look on his face. He obviously knows he is in trouble. However, the dog was completely unharmed and survived his brief joyride completely intact and without a scratch. The vehicle, on the other hand, did not fare as well. It got banged up a bit.
The trash can also was damaged pretty badly. It can be seen in the photo turned over and partially crushed under the back wheel of the car, with the trash spread out everywhere. Luckily, the whole incident happened at slow speed or things could have gone much worse.
As for the pup, our guess is that he was completely oblivious.
While the accident was, technically, his fault, it’s hard to really blame the dog in a situation like this. His owners probably should have been more careful about leaving him unsupervised in the car. Excited pups are pretty good at finding creative ways to get in trouble.
Although no one ever expected him to crash the car, we can understand how it happened. We are just glad everyone is okay. Both Duke’s owners and the neighbors can all look back at the incident now and laugh about it. Although, at the time, it was very surprising for everyone involved.
Check out the original viral Twitter post showing Duke crashing the car below.
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A Bay Area couple is having a RUFF Friday!
Apparently, the dog (seen behind the wheel) was left in the car with the leash on. The leash got stuck on the gear shift, & pulled the car in neutral, allowing it to roll down the street into the wall.
*insert bad driver joke here* 😉 pic.twitter.com/vOzEpV0CYM
— Katie Nielsen (@KatieKPIX) August 30, 2019
