Dog Safety Tips for Elevators, Escalators and Revolving Doors

If you like to bring your dog along when you travel or run errands, you’ve probably encountered elevators, escalators and perhaps revolving doors. All three can pose safety hazards for our four-legged friends. Here are tips for dealing with each.

Elevators

Elevators are generally safe for your dog if you take these precautions recommended by KONE, a global leader in the elevator industry.

• When you get on and off the elevator, keep your dog right beside you on a short leash, gripping it tightly.
• Do not push a floor button until your dog and his leash are completely inside the elevator.
• Stay in the rear of the elevator, with your dog sitting beside you.

It’s also a good idea to check to see where the emergency buttons to stop the elevator and open the doors are located.

“If an emergency does occur, act fast,” KONE advises. “If there is a danger of choking, release the dog from its collar as quickly as possible. If the dog is alone in the elevator and its leash is caught between the doors, push the call button immediately. If the elevator car is already in motion, let go of the leash.”

Call the service number of the maintenance company for the elevator. “Remember to stay calm – help is on the way,” KONE says.

A Pug in Perm, Russia, is very lucky to be alive after he ran out of an elevator and his long leash got caught between the doors. A bystander unhooked the dogs collar just in time.

Escalators

Unless you can carry your dog, take the stairs or elevator instead of the escalator.

“Many pet owners do not understand the danger escalators and moving walkways pose to pets, who do not know that they need to lift their feet at the top to avoid being trapped by the ‘combs,’” MSPCA-Angell warned in a press release. Its veterinarians see an average of two to three dogs each year whose paws have been mangled, requiring emergency surgery.

In 2012 a Pomeranian mix named Mace was lucky to lose only two toes on an escalator at a Boston subway station. He had chased his owner’s niece up the steps, and his paw got caught in the combs.

“This is a very serious issue; most of us don’t think twice when stepping onto an escalator, but it’s crucial for all of us to understand that dogs have no sense of the danger awaiting them at the top,” said Dr. Ashley Davis, one of the veterinarians who treated Mace, in the press release. “If anything positive can come from Mace’s ordeal, it’s the awareness that his story will generate.”

Celebrity dog dad Ryan Gosling is apparently well aware of those dangers – he was photographed carrying his not-so-little pooch up an escalator at Los Angeles International Airport.

If you cant carry your dog and must ride an escalator, bring booties for him to wear, suggests Dr. Jeannine Berger, DVM, DACVB, on 77.com. Just make sure they fit snugly, without superfluous material that can catch in the moving escalator parts, she warns.

Revolving Doors

If your dog is small enough, carry him through revolving doors; otherwise, avoid them. And as youre walking past a revolving door, be sure to keep your dog next to you on a short leash, and hold on tight. Should your dog see something interesting on the other side, he wont be able to go bolting into the revolving door.

Thats what happened earlier this year to Alan, the office dog for the British magazine, Tatler. The Miniature Dachshund ran off and became caught in a revolving door at Vogue House, where the magazines headquarters are located. Although several firefighters worked to free him, Alan lost his life – a tragic reminder that dogs and revolving doors don’t mix.

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