No part of this was a good decision..

"thank goodness he had insurance, though"

I highly doubt that the will cover something likes this if a accident might happen

Take away his license until he learns to be responsible.

pretty sure this is a woman..

Pretty sure #2 meant the dog...

This is my favorite comment on the site XD

How can this not be a YDI? Your dog seems smart, though..

While most people like to believe in Canis intelligence (although recent studies prove that mans best friend is smarter than we ever imagined), this problem could of entirely been by accident. Dogs in general like to move around a lot. Who says it wasn't stick shift where it would be easy to take it out of park? I think we need a little bit of a follow up to really deter that predicament itself. I'm not completely disagreeing, the dog could have exceptional cognition and memory skills. Which could be this case.

Oh my god, are you kidding #24?

easy to take it off on stick shift(being European I assume that's how you call manual gearboxes)? You need to use clutch to detach drive shaft from gear otherwise it's easier to break the lever than to put it in neutral. It could be in neutral, and the dog released handbreak, but in every car I drove to do that you had to push a button then move a lever - I don't think that's within a dexterity of a dog.

Everyone calls it stick shift lol

#61, not everyone is in US.

If it was a manual and the car was running it would have been in neutral. releasing the clutch otherwise would stall the engine. He could have forgotten to engage the e-brake in that case.

car in gear push button start launches the car foreword and coasts into intersection

I'm in the U.S. and I call it a Manual. Not everyone calls it a stick shift over here

Cause if it was a stick you wouldn't have it in gear parked . You would have the e brake pulled. Probably wasn't a good idea to leave a car running period . Roll the windows down and take the keys out or don't take the dog at all.... You're lucky it didn't hurt or kill someone else. You could be charged for negligence and involuntary manslaughter.

To take the stick from a gear to neutral, you only have to move the stick to neutral, nothing else

And if you leave your car running, you leave it in neutral because you can't leave the car if it's not... Realized my last comment was a stupid answer to #24, My bad.

Why would you leave your car running with your dog inside? Thankfully, by the sound of it, no harm came out of it. Lesson learned!

Maybe so the dog doesn't die.. Why else?

It was just for five minutes. Not an extended period of time.

To keep the dog safe maybe? (Sarcasm) But I agree that OP could've thought this through more, the parking brake or something.

How does leaving your car on prevent your dog from dying? An open window would suffice. Leaving it running when you're not around sounds dangerous

No one can just predict their dog will change transmission, let alone drive.

Just an open window for your dog in summer, will leave you with a broken window and a stranger "saving" your dogs life.

You should NEVER leave your dog in car even for 5 minutes. in 90 degree weather it gets as high as 160 degrees in a car in under ten minutes even with the window open.

Maybe they kept it running for the a/c?

Probably OP's intention was to leave the car on so the A/C would stay on, so it wouldn't get too hot in the car for the dog.

An open window does not suffice! Have you been in a hot car, even for 5 minutes, with just the window cracked open? Now imagine you have a fur coat on...permanently! It's called animal cruelty!

71, don't think of a dog as a human with fur. They're use to the fur. Unless it was really hot or OP can't actually make it in 5 minutes, the dog would be totally fine. Especially because they can stick their head out the window.

That being said, OP why did you not use the parking break? Seems pretty silly. I was also expecting another "somebody broke into my car with the door unlocked and AC on to let out my dog" FML.

because its much more important that your dog can come with you than other people porentially getting hurt or dieing. great thought process!

#71 the car was in because they prob had the ac running I do that fir my dogs if I have them with me and I need to make a quick stop

When I wear a coat, I'm used to the coat but if it was hot I sure as hell wouldn't want to be stuck in a hot car. The fact they can't take their fur off doesn't magically mean they can't overheat easier.

You barked up the wrong tree making that decision, OP.

I hope OP doesn't end up in the dog house for too long because of this.

At leash it didn't cause an accident.

That's true, I hope the other drivers didn't ruff OP up about it.

I think you all tried a little too hard with these puns. Let me knock on wood so I don't get thumbs down, preferably bark.

If the fml ended in him crashing into a tree, I might consider you clever.

Was the parking break on ?

That was my first thought. I find it much more likely that OP forgot to engage the parking brake on a manual or set it in gear than that a dog somehow, for some reason, disengaged the parking brake, put a manual into neutral, or took an automatic out of park.

No, but the barking break was :D

Ok I'll let myself out

I'm just trying to comprehend the fact that your dog apparently moved the car while it was parked.

Yeah? How did he shift gears?

I'm sorry but I feel like there is no way this happened

I imagine that he somehow released the park brake and assuming the car was in neutral it could have easily gone from there.
'Cause that's how OP's dog rolls.

Hahahaha good pun!

Depending on the car, especially an automatic, the dog may have sat on or against the shifter or leaned/layed up against it with some part of his body. Some of them have buttons on the side of the shifter, so it's entirely possible that the button was depressed by whatever part of the dog's body and his weight against it moved it back from there, especially a medium to large sized dog. Some automatics don't even have buttons on the gear selector, enough pressure will move it either way. And then away the car rolls. It's also possible op accidentally left the car in neutral and forgot the e brake and then gravity took over.

Dogs are creations of social learning. It is very possible that your dog picked up what transmission does.

Why would you leave your car running? Even if your dog didn't figure out how to get it in gear, someone could've stolen your car and your dog.. YDI hope your dog is ok though!

Because you shouldn't leave anyone in a car with no ventilation, they can suffocate and die. Leaving the window open and somone could as easily steal it or the dog could jump out

I agree with #12.
and #56. leaving the car on makes it more tempting to a car thief. I'm glad the dog had air but the guy is an idiot.
in "park" the dog would have to apply the brake while shifting into gear. if it's too hot to just leave windows cracked he should apply the parking brake as well. that was dangerous

Windows cracked wouldn't be enough if the temperature is hot enough.

That's not where I expected this fml to go

Neither did I. I expected a story about a broken car window from someone thinking they left the dog in a hot car.