Dog Takes Off In Minivan While Owner Fetches Newspaper

By Echo Menges

Tuesday morning, August 6, 2013, was like any other Tuesday morning at The Edina Sentinel office until a woman came in to fetch her weekly newspaper while her little pooch took off in her minivan.

Members of the Sentinel staff were busy stuffing and labeling the weekly newspapers, getting them ready to be sent out. No one in the office noticed that as one of our readers, who shall remain nameless, entered the office to pick up her paper her minivan drove off without her, leaving its parking space and driving past the Sentinel office, at a rather slow speed, in reverse.

Outside the office Marge Davidson, who was returning from delivering the newspapers to Edina stores for their newsstands, did see the van leave its parking space, south of the Sentinel office, and travel out onto Main Street heading north.

“I noticed it because it was driving on the wrong side of the road,” said Davidson.

After the van passed the Sentinel it veered back toward the curb heading backwards into a parked car.

“I yelled – you’re going to hit that car! Stop!” said Davidson. “When I looked in the window there wasn’t anybody there, just a dog.”

According to Davidson, the doggy get-a-way only lasted about half of a block until the minivan hit another vehicle, which caused it to stop moving and ended the spectacle. Fortunately there was no damage to either vehicle.

“I came outside to get in my van and it was gone,” said the owner. “At first I didn’t know what to think.”

   The dog, a nearly one-year-old Chihuahua named Private Howe of rural Edina, was unaffected by the incident, though, he was quite shaken by the amount of attention he received following his trip up Main Street.

It is believed Private Howe knocked the gear shifter into reverse, which led to his first, and hopefully last, solo mission behind the wheel.