Dogs can open emergency exit on my Hawk

[Cooter]

Sunday while driving on I49 I looked in my side mirror and noticed that the emergency exit window was popped open and my German Shepherd had fallen out at 70 MPH. Not knowing where she fell out it took two days to find her on I49. She was scraped up a little but in good shape surprisingly. First time she had rode in the camper and the last. She usually rides in the cab but we were traveling for the holidays and the crewcab was full up with people. Not sure how she did it but we were lucky. She will never ride in the camper again and I need to block the window with stuff so she can't get near it while we are camping. Thanks to my daughters Facebook and the help of most of Fouke Arkansas we were able to find her as people seeing her narrowed it down to a 10 mile stretch of highway.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Cooter, I am glad you found your pup, and that she was OK.

 

[GroovyDad]

Cooter, I am glad you found your pup, and that she was OK.

x2!

 

[takesiteasy]

x3! Quite a story- glad it was a good outcome.

 

[Taku]

Wow. Glad dog is ok and back with you. She must have been really wanting out of there.

 

[Wallowa]

Damn...sorry your pup got kicked around...hell, I did not even know the FWC had an emergency exit!

Wonder if she will even get back in the camper! Very glad it eventually had a happy ending, I will bet you didn't sleep much until she was back home.....

Phil

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

Glad that it ended well. It made me cringe as I read your post. Good to hear your pooch is alright. I'd give her the once over and make sure she's not working with a set of opposable thumbs.

 

[Lighthawk]

Scary story! When we had a larger dog, she did ride in the back of our camper for several years, without a problem.
I'm glad your dog survived and that you found her. We now have a medium size cattle dog, who rides with us on a platform above the back seat.

 

[northshorehenry]

Wow. What a story. Extra treats for the dog!


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[Cooter]

I had installed a dash cam the week before so here is the moment when I found her. I have not set the correct time zone yet so the time was actually 2 AM.

 

[XJINTX]

So cool and glad you found her!!! Also glad to know about the issue of my dog being able to open it. I will look closer this morning and see what I may do to prevent this if I ever travel with my lab back there.

Wonder if FWC has any suggestions beyond blocking the window completely?

 

[longhorn1]

That is crazy. With the front dinette, the emergency window is covered by the seat back, so that wouldn't be an issue for us. Still that is pretty scary. jd

 

[hebegebe]

I had a problem with my dog leaning on glass too but she never fell out. I drilled a 3/32 hole at the front of the latches and installed a piece of welding rod to lock them. Easy enough to pop out with your finger


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[rotti]

I knew cats had 9 lives but dogs too?
Glad it all ended well! What model camper do you have?
My Hawk with the roll over couch would make that impossible as the window is 75% covered by the back rest.

 

[Cooter]

I knew cats had 9 lives but dogs too?
Glad it all ended well! What model camper do you have?
My Hawk with the roll over couch would make that impossible as the window is 75% covered by the back rest.

Mine is the same model. Rollover couch. She was getting behind the couch I had noticed at an earlier stop but did not think about the window opening. I really had even forgot that being able to open as we have never opened the emergency window.

 

[craig333]

I'm having trouble thinking why we even need (I'm sure its required) one. Mine is normally inaccessible anyway due to all the stuff I pile up there. I've never let my dog ride in the camper. I can't imagine what the dog was thinking tumbling out at 70 mph. Good thing she wasn't so spooked she just ran off. Longest I've lost my dog is four hours and I was quite panicked at that. He wasn't though, he was on the road back to camp.

Current dog has never jumped out but the old one would if he saw a rodent, deer, pretty much anything interesting but he only did that while traveling on dirt roads.

 

[CALIcamperdad]

Oh wow.. Glad you found her. I've wondered if anyone puts the dog in the back. I've used a folding soft sided crate before when space was tight. But if the dog wants out they'll get through the crate.

Both of our Red Dobies wont let us out of their sight when traveling I cant imagine either one would survive that ordeal. Thick fur makes for great padding and protection from getting skinned up too.

 

[BillM]

I was concerned about this with our lab who always rides in the camper. I secured the latch with a twisted loop of bailing wire that is easy enough to remove quickly if needed. Six years now and never had a problem. So glad your dog is OK and back home.

 

[JaSAn]

The one time my pup rode in the back he was in his crate. Crate was tied so it couldn't slide around. Who knows what mischief he would get into if left back there unsupervised. He goes nuts when seeing other dogs, cows, horses, antelope, ...