10/30/2006

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Cody, a Pomeranian owned by Richard and Nancy Moran, of Alden, waits in the car with Richard on Union Street on Friday afternoon, while Nancy visits a store. “He goes everywhere,” said Nancy, after returning from her errand. The Morans even have a small bench in the back seat so Cody can look out the window.

Photo Story

Nose to the Wind

By
Record-Eagle photographer

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Darwin, a standard poodle, waits in the car with Carole Spencer, while her husband Gary Spencer buys film in downtown Traverse City. “We always bring him down to socialize,” Carole said.

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Nick Walters and his dog, Grizzly Bear, travel together all the time, and so do countless other drivers and the canines.

"If I go somewhere short, he goes with me. It's nice to have a traveling partner," Walters said as he put a new propane tank in the back of his pickup truck.

The riding pooches aren't that hard to spot, especially if the window is open just a few inches.

"They're pretty much in ecstasy when they're riding in the car and the wind is pushing all these odors in their nose," said Dave Burke, a veterinarian at Grand Traverse Veterinary Hospital. "They can discern things we're totally unaware of."

Burke said studies show that a dog's nose could be 1,000 to 2,000 times more acute than a human's. He recommends that car windows be open only enough for the dog to get his head through, not his whole body.

Dogs are creatures of impulse and could jump out of the car if they catch a scent that stimulates them, he said. They also could fall out if the driver makes a sudden turn or stop. Long trips on the highway are also potentially dangerous because at high speeds the force of the wind and dust can irritate the dog's eyes.

"If we go to an action-adventure movie with all the special effects, our senses are almost in an overloaded state." Burke said. "For dogs in cars, it's almost like an action-adventure for them."