When Self-Preservation Goes Out the Window

Most of us have probably heard of or learned about the survival instinct of animals from somewhere; maybe it was from high school biology, perhaps the Discovery Channel, or depending on your vintage, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I'm sure the specifics of our lessons vary greatly, but I don't think I'm assuming much to say that it's fairly common knowledge that animals, and most humans, would not knowingly act in such a a way that would put them in danger, but act in a way as to preserve their lives. Sure a cheetah will perhaps venture into lion territory for the hope of a meal, but the need to prevent certain death by starvation, outweighs the potential risk of death by lion. My point is that the same cheetah would not jump off of a cliff in hopes of catching that same prey, regardless of its hunger. Where am I going with this? I'm pretty sure my Jack Russell's survival instinct is broken.

Like most dogs, Skippy loves to hang her head out the window of a moving vehicle and feel the wind push her lips back to her ears. The first time she wanted to her head out the window, I obliged but only after I attached her leash to her collar. For some reason I was hesitant to trust her to make good decisions. She was excited but only went so far as putting her hind feet on the arm-rest of the door in an attempt to expose more of her surface area to the wind. She followed this same pattern for the next few trips, gradually leading to believe this would be the norm. I think you know where this is going.

I have seen too much of Skippy's eccentricities and irrational behaviour to ever trust her completely; even with something as seemingly obvious as not plunging to her own death. Surely she must have known the extent of the danger awaiting her just outside the window. But maybe she didn't. In her eagerness to get as much wind as possible, she somehow managed to get all four of her paws onto the door's narrow window ledge. We were going 80 km/h! This was absolutely insane. Despite my reservations, I was totally surprised but managed to yank her back into the safety of the Jeep before she plummeted to the highway.

If she were human we would not hesitate to say this was completely stupid; but we understand the extent of the danger. And unless there are several unreported dog deaths from falling out of car windows at high speed, I would assume that most dogs also recognize this danger. The question is, what happened to Skippy's innate self-preservation? The answers is, I have no idea. So what is up with my Jack Russell?

"I just want wind over my entire body!"