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Terrifying video shows dog nearly strangled in Toronto elevator mishap

Screengrab of elevator dog chocking incident posted to Tamara Seibert's Facebook page.

This is terrifying.

A Toronto woman is warning dog owners to keep extra vigilant after an elevator accident nearly cost the life of one of her pets.

Tamara Seibert told the Toronto Sun that the leash of her 50-kg Rottweiler was caught in the door of her condominium's elevator, lifting the hefty creature off of the ground and nearly choking it to death.

She fought to free him from the leash, breaking two fingers in the process, before finally the leash snapped and the dog fell to the ground, panicked but alive.

Seibert posted a video of the incident her Facebook page and warned followers that the accident, which happened nearly a month ago, could happen to anyone.

"I am posting this because thank god my dog survived but I want to warn people how fast something so simple can go horribly wrong," she wrote. "I never want anyone else to ever go through this. You can't see my face but I've never been so hysterical in my life."

Post by Tamara Seibert.

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Seibert concedes that she made mistakes, namely letting her guard down in an elevator she has ridden on every day for the past five years. But she says she has since been told several similar stories about children and animals being caught in elevator doors. Not just dog leashes, but jackets and dresses and scarves as well.

Last year in Russia, a pug's leash was caught in an ascending elevator after it jumped through the closing doors. Only the quick actions of a passerby saved it from strangling. Similarly in Chicago, a dog was nearly strangled after being left outside the elevator, but survived after its leash snapped.

On a more somber note, people have recently been killed in China and New York after being caught in the doors of a crowded elevator.

But it is not just elevators, but all public mechanical devices that the public should be careful around. Earlier this year in Montreal, a woman was killed after her scarf was caught in a metro system escalator.

Any pet owner surely knows the panic Seibert must have felt during this instance, or anyone else whose pet or loved one has had been similarly snagged. Heck, anyone who rides an elevator should take note. Just be careful, people.

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