A while back I complained about the neighbor's dogs that were using our yard like a public restroom. Since that time I have had a change of heart and I actually started to enjoy the dogs hanging out in the yard while I am out watering palms and such.
One of the dogs was particularly cute. He's was an old red labrador kind of dog, though I'm not sure exactly what kind. Everytime I'd go out to do something in the yard he was my companion, watching what I was doing from a comfortable distance, occassionaly rolling over to have his belly scratched.
Unfortunatly, all of that has changed.
Friday night my wife and I returned to the house some heavy shopping bags and we had to unload from the truck. We left the passenger door open, unloaded everything and then returned a few minutes later to close the truck door.
Unfortunately we did not know that my little red companion had hopped inside the truck and curled up in the back seat.
Saturday both my neighbor and I did yard work within feet of my truck and neither of us heard any barking or any signs that the dog was trapped inside my car. My wife and I went to leave for dinner on Sunday night and that's when we discovered that old red had died in the back seat!
Finding the dead body was a morbid scene. The dog was dead for 2 days in JULY heat!! The smell of death invoked an urge to vomit and flys were swarming everywhere.
My poooooor truuuuuckk!!!!!!!!!!
My neighbor has been great in this situation. We broke the bad news to them and they are taking full responsibility for the dog jumping in the back seat. Tonight they removed the body and begun the bio-cleanup. Tomorrow they are taking the truck (aka deathmobile) to the detailers to be cleaned. I'm just praying that they can get the smell out.
This whole situation is remeniscent of a bad movie or something....sort of like the myth where a dead body was stored in a Corvette and no one wanted to buy the car because it smelled so bad.
Anyone wanna buy a Toyota Truck!?
The neighbor took the truck for a thorough cleaning on Monday and as of this morning it still reaks like death.
I called insurance and luckily my comprehensive includes dead-dog-in-the-backseat coverage. Insurance has contacted a bio-cleanup specialist and they are going to rip apart the interior to clean everything in the car.
I'd file an owner's neglect report for just that!