Dog owners have been warned after a German shepherd jumped from a car window when travelling at 60mph on a motorway.
Two-year-old Jojo went missing for more than 12 hours after leaping from the moving car, leaving his owners to search through ditches, tall grass and a woods in the early hours of the morning.
The anonymous couple were eight hours into a road trip to a nature reserve when their usually well-behaved dog jumped through the open window.
Speaking to Reddit, the woman warned: "Please, no matter how brilliant you think your dogs is; or how you know your dog knows better, even how well trained they are, do not keep your car window down for your dog.
"We’ve always left the window down for him without issue. We were eight hours into this drive, with the window down for plenty of time, and then he just decided to leap out at 60mph.
"It’s now been eight hours of constant searching into the morning and no sight or sign of him. We weren’t able to find blood on any of the guardrails or grass.
"We’re hopeful he just rolled into the grass and ran off scared. He’s wearing his leash and the area is surrounded by different roadways."
After searching through the night to no avail, the couple issued a plea for help on Facebook asking people to keep an eye out for their injured German shepherd.
"We received a text and a message in the local Facebook group that he was spotted alive at 7am walking along the side of the road searching for us," she added.
"Finding that out improved things so much, knowing we didn't have to keep checking the ditches near where he fell out.
"My partner did a great job at handing out information to a bunch of people and left out some of Jojo's food away from the road near where he was seen and put some familiar smelling scents around there."
Thankfully, later that day, the couple were reunited with their dog who had been wandering the nearby roads for hours.
Her partner, a former emergency medical technician, checked him for a concussion and sanitised his paws, saying the only injuries he sustained from the jump was a bump to the head and cuts and scraps to his paws.
She added: "All the vets were closing by the time we could get to him. Nothing seems broken but Jojo's paws are all cut up and hurt and one of his nails came off.
"No mountain climbing this week for sure. With the vet's blessing tomorrow, we'll drive him to a lake and relax and have ourselves a good meal before heading home.
"We celebrated with pizza. Jojo got a slice and some of his favourite treats, and we didn't even make him do any tricks for them."
In the UK, drivers are required to secure a dog - or any other small animal - in a car when driving in order to prevent them from causing an accident.
If an animal is found to have caused or contributed to a road accidents, the driver could face a fine of up to £5,000 and points on their licence.
Rule 57 of the Highway Code states: "When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves if you stop quickly.
"A seat belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or dog guard are ways of restraining animals in cars.”
Do you have a dog story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
