a truck, a trailer, a railroad crossing & a ditch

01-03-221 min read

An Intermediate kennel saved Kobe’s life when Dustin’s truck jackknifed into a ditch in the early morning hours.

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Words by Dustin Baker | As told by GUNNER

“I had a couple cracked ribs but my buddy Kobe and I are all good. Thank God I had a GUNNER kennel, I know that having it saved him.”

It was super early in the morning in December when me, my buddy, and my 3-year-old lab Kobe were heading to set up in the field for ducks. It was pretty foggy as we got out there, to the point that it was nearly impossible to get things done, so we decided to leave and come back later that day to finish up. 

We stopped for gas and then headed south on 15, I must have only been going about 35mph because it was so damn foggy. I’m talking that thick – where you can’t see more than 6 feet in front of you. Apparently there was a railroad crossing up ahead, but I didn’t know that until it was too late.

There were two cars stopped at the tracks waiting and as soon as they came into view I slammed on my brakes, praying I wouldn’t crash into them at a dead stop. I missed them, thank God, but the weight of my trailer swung around and jackknifed, pushing me head on into a ditch at 35 mph. My covered Tahoe and my trailer both ended up on their side. They were totaled from the impact.

Kobe was in his GUNNER Intermediate kennel, which lives in the rear hatch of my covered Chevy Tahoe. The kennel wasn’t strapped down at the time. I was shocked to see it had only tipped over. The door stayed closed throughout the impact and Kobe was safe.

I bought my GUNNER kennel in 2019 and it was worth every penny, especially in that moment when I went to check on him.

I walked away with some broken ribs on my left side and Kobe was a little stiff in general. We rested all day Saturday but weren’t going to let the whole weekend pass us by if we could help it.

We hunted Sunday and Kobe was back in his element picking up birds - I was kind of shocked to be honest.

This was the first wreck I’ve ever been in and while we were pretty shaken up, I know that having the GUNNER saved Kobe from getting seriously hurt (or worse).

I can’t recommend your products enough, I’ll be a GUNNER customer for life.