Kayo is our dog; he is a rescue dog, three years with us he is now four
years old. He is a very, very skittish dog, very loving but fearful of much
that is ‘new’ to him.
He has sensitive ears, so much so that walking him on rainy days is a
chore—tire and road noises make Kayo panic.
Gail and I go to a restaurant, Lefties, with friends every Friday. It’s
a ritual for about a decade.
Kayo, though fearful of my truck at first, now just loves to be in his
place, leashed, in the rear cabin of the truck. I travel most everywhere with
him when the weather is cool enough, we are retired and mostly the truck is
used to take the dog to his next walk!
So, one evening, 5:30 as usual, we took the truck to Lefties with Kayo.
Winter had just started; it was rainy and dark. Everyone had changed tires from
Summer to Winter, many with studs. As mentioned Kayo is very sound
sensitive—unfortunately Gail wanted the windows down, even with the cool, the
rain and the noise.
When we arrived back, more than an hour later, Kayo had eaten, ripped,
torn, the seat backs of the truck to taters! White stuffing was everywhere! The
metal backing of the seats was exposed—they were destroyed. And Kayo was
apologetic by the looks of him. Like lightning causes a dog to panic, so had
the road noises and the passing vehicle lights on the rainy roadways.
Sad but true, what had
happened had happened! I called Nissan to price the cost of replacement seats
and was told it would be around $3000. In that call, the service advisor, a dog
lover, suggested I try the thunder jacket for anxiety for Kayo in this type of
situation. It apparently worked wonders for his highly anxious dog with similar
issues.
That cost put the repair on hold for me. In my mind, there was no way this
could possibly be covered under insurance so I did not even try.
$2385 was the total cost of repairs—both seats were heated and had side
impact airbags! The full costs were approved, minus our $250 deductible.
Yesterday, March 20, 2017, the repairs were concluded. My truck now
looks like new. Coincidentally, also on the same day, we received a package from Clyde and Shea at
Meloche Monnex (TD Insurance) for Kayo.
When Gail opened the box, she put the contents on the back-top of the couch. As
she looked for a note; the dog grabbed that contents and ran for his bed. The
contents was a stuffed bear for him!
Doug, Gail and Kayo