A dog is being treated for grazing, burns and damage to the pads of its feet after it was accidentally dragged more than 1km along a Masterton road on Boxing Day.
Napier holidaymakers were driving their Hilux north on Ngaumutawa Rd in the afternoon when their large black poodle jumped
off the back and was suspended by its lead.
The owner only realised what had happened when another car pulled them over but by this point the dog had left a trail of blood along the road at least 1km long.
Masterton police, alerted by a Ngaumutawa Rd resident, followed the trail to a house on Hillcrest St and discovered the distressed owners had taken the dog to a vet.
The dog is in a stable condition and was being taken with the owners back to their local vet in Napier yesterday.
Sergeant Peter Rix said it was a sad incident and a reminder that owners need to keep their dogs properly secured when driving.
"Everyone should know you should tie dogs up to the centre of the headboard and use a very short chain."
Wairarapa SPCA president Val Ball said dogs - 90 per cent of them farm dogs - falling off vehicles was far too common in Wairarapa and easily avoidable.
"These are the sorts of things that can happen and people need to be very aware of that when they put a dog on the back of a vehicle."
A dog should be on a lead long enough that it can stand up and lie down but short enough that it can't reach the edges of the vehicle.
Last weekend a dog was dropped in Greytown but was only "vaguely injured" - many aren't so lucky.
In addition to falls, the SPCA was concerned about dogs being left in cars this summer.
Mrs Ball said it only took 20 minutes for a dog in a hot car to panic, which could be potentially lethal.
