A West Seattle story: “The dog with abundant good karma”

| Pets | West Seattle people

That’s how WSB’er “Westseattledood” headlined her e-mail, which included the following amazing tale, and the photo shown above:

My dog and I came back into West Seattle this afternoon after enjoying a hike through Seward Park. We stopped at the 35th & Avalon 7-11 for a can of pop just as rush hour traffic was beginning at this infamously busy intersection. The entire parking lot was completely full, except for one slot on the east side of the parking lot. I pulled in and decided after a brief cost/benefit analysis, to the leave the back window down so the Big Dog, the dood, could continue to hang his head out the window and watch all the comings and goings while I dashed in. I was quite mindful of the sketchy characters congregating around the car, but decided to take the chance and pop in and out.

I was in the store for about one minute, as there were no other customers. As I walked past all the cars to the end of the building, I cleared the last big truck adjacent to mine, I saw my car was not where I left it. My stomach dropped out of me. And, I was worried that someone would steal the dog! Someone had stolen the car! I did not leave the keys in! My god, they were unbelievably quick! I looked around the parking lot and just as quickly, I heard a woman directly across Avalon to the south (where the new building is going in), screaming and waving her arms. She was standing by my car, which was now angled parked into the cyclone fence of the construction site.

I flew across the parking lot, waited for traffic on Avalon to slow and crossed to my car. Somehow the truck rolled all the way from the top of the lot down through the narrow driveway of the parking lot, across four lanes of rush hour traffic to roll to a gentle stop across the street. The dog, oblivious to any harm, remained stationed at the rear window, as can be seen in the photograph attached.

My dog and I are clearly surrounded by angels. The angels, of course, are assigned to my good dog. I am merely the beneficiary by association.

PS. And, of course, I’ll be getting a new parking brake immediately.

Under_Achiever February 17, 2009 (5:54 pm)

That’s some shaggy dog story….

livingonthebeach February 17, 2009 (5:54 pm)

That’s incredible. Thank goodness Dood is ok. I know I’ve done what you did at least 100 times. I will think twice about it now.
.
Thanks for sharing, and yes indeed – angels where on your side.

Scott c February 17, 2009 (5:57 pm)

Just to be sure, no one tried to steal your car, right? Dog somehow took the vehicle out of park?

JimmyG February 17, 2009 (6:00 pm)

Wow!
WestSeattleDood really needs to get one of those bumper stickers for the 4Runner that says, “My Karma Ran Over My Dogma”.

miws February 17, 2009 (6:00 pm)

Wow! Glad that Dood, you, and the car are okay!

Reminds me of a not quite as scary (no pets inside the vehicle, and on a residential street) incident from many years ago. A buddy of mine was visiting me at my then house, and had parked (I believe it was a small pick-up he had at the time) right in front of my place.

Sometime later, we either looked out, or were heading out, and the truck was gone! Thought it was stolen! We walked through the front yard, (a very big one, as the house sat all the way back on the alley) and once we got closer to the street, saw the truck resting against the curb across the street, and about one house down. He apparently had left the truck out of gear, and was known not to set the e-brake.

The scariest thing, next to that brief moment of thinking it had been stolen, was that most often, another car was parked where his had landed, and even at a relatively slow roll, could have likely done some damage.

Mike

dawn211 February 17, 2009 (6:02 pm)

WSD- I’m so glad to hear that all is ok! If that pop you were getting had caffeine, I’m sure you didn’t need it after that experience!

DM February 17, 2009 (6:28 pm)

Yes, you and “the dood” are very blessed. Another case of “when things go wrong very well”. Has your pulse rate normalized yet?

I USED to think my street was level. And then one day a neighbor knocked on my door and asked if I was missing anything. I’d forgotten to pull the parking brake and my car had slowly rolled, with a gentle arch, backwards into his truck. SO glad no one was driving down the street, and equally relieved that my tolerant neighbor didn’t care about the tiny dent my car put in his truck. He laughed it off, but ever since then I have been neurotic/compulsive about making sure the parking brake is on. Sounds like yours failed. Oh great: another thing for me to worry about! Perhaps I’ll just drive around with “chocks” in my car from now on.

Congratulations on a potentially bad situation not ending badly (except for the frayed nerves).

JoB February 17, 2009 (6:36 pm)

i am so glad you and the dog are both ok…

sometimes god does watch out for us.

jeannie February 17, 2009 (6:42 pm)

Your dog is probably a better driver (and cuter!) than most humans.

GenHillOne February 17, 2009 (7:17 pm)

Oh man, look at that face – Dooood! I’m so glad this had a happy ending. Aren’t ravens good luck? Looks like there’s one (or a crow anyway!) watching over the scene too :)

Zenguy February 17, 2009 (8:37 pm)

Are you shure Dood did not try and go on a joy ride and then jump in back when things went arye…whistling and pretending like nothing happened?

M. February 17, 2009 (8:43 pm)

OMG! Thats Crazy!

yoda February 17, 2009 (8:59 pm)

Glad your dog is ok. Be extra happy your vehicle did not crush any people and did no damage to other cars and property. These have a pull and turn with lock button ebrake, there is no possible way for the dog to have accidentally released it. SET YOUR EBRAKE and put it in gear or park and turn it off when you leave it.

What The February 17, 2009 (9:55 pm)

A-typical for a Labradoodle to car-jack.

WTF February 17, 2009 (9:57 pm)

God bless dog karma. I think gives a whole new meaning to Dog is my co-pilot! Thank goodness. Rock on Dood!

What The February 17, 2009 (9:58 pm)

Atypical for a Labradoodle to car-jack.

What The February 17, 2009 (10:00 pm)

If that Dog was your co-pilot you would have wound up in the Duwamish River.

beatrice February 18, 2009 (12:21 am)

Had the truck hit a person or car would you be held responsible?

Mr. JT February 18, 2009 (6:58 am)

Is this the same 4 Runner that you were commenting on how well maintained it was a couple of weeks ago ?

Dood needs to get back to 7-11 and buy lottery tikets. Glad to see everything worked out for the best !

WSC February 18, 2009 (7:08 am)

You can have complete confidence knowing that ALL of the guardian angels on the scene yesterday were protecting those whose cars and by extension the owners lives were not impacted by your rolling dog house. Your dog and fuzzy wuzzy face post-roll were merely a source of amusement for the angels after they knocked off for the day.