I'm sure this is completely inadequate, but I lock Tosca's retractable leash in its smallest length and then buckle that in. She can move around the seat a little, but she can't try to get in the front (a no-no since I have airbags) or get out before I've got a good hold on her. Tosca always walks/rides with her harness on so it's not like she's being strangled if I come to a sudden stop.
I think if she were going to do some major traveling, I might have to think about a crate in the car, but she gets so unhappy in the crate that I try to keep crating to a minimum.
Man I don't trust those retractable leashes. I almost lost a neighbor's mini pin cause it broke on me while he was pulling lol. Chased him a couple blocks before finally catching him.
I use a dog seatbelt harness, http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755199 ,it's thicker than a regular harness and has padding. It has a hook thing that you attach to a buckled seat belt. Kaia can move around if she wanted, but won't fall off the car seat and can't walk all around the car.
we do a crate or we tie her harness to the back seat. Sometimes I feel like the crate is safer, sometimes the harness. My worry with the crate is that if it gets hit or cracks then she's trapped inside a box made of broken plastic shards. My main worry with the harness is a broken leg if she gets tossed around too much. We're thinking about getting a small SUV, crossover, or station wagon later this year and at first I thought putting her in the back was a great idea. After a while though I don't think I'd do that. She'd be right in the rear crumple zone if we got rear ended, and my view now is. If I wouldn't put a human baby somewhere, I'm not putting Katsu there.
I love the whole dog friendly Honda Element Concept. But I'm not crazy where the crate is. Maybe I'm just to paranoid.
Sage rides in the Way-back of the forester, behind the dog guard fence thingy. Reilly rides in the back seat. I have a big plastic tub in the footwell to store dog stuff and take up the space she'd fall off the seat into. Its all covered with blankets. They are not specifically restrained. I did for a while have Sage wear a seatbelt harness called the RuffRider Roadie, which was very strong and well designed anatomically for him. But his reactivity made it hard for me to have him among all those windows, belted or not, so I papered over the side windows in the Wayback and he is much less overwhelmed.
I also have a Outward Hound Backseat "hammock" so the dogs can ride back there without falling into the foot space of the backseat. Plus it blocks access to the front seat.
Growing up on a farm, we always rode in the back of vehicles (and were probably fairly lax on the seat belts - both for humans and animals), so I guess I never think of it as being unsafe. However, it's quite different to do things out in the middle of nowhere flitting from field to field, than it is in city traffic or on long trips . I once had to put a room-mates young husky in the back area of my X-Terra (SUV) with a blanket. When she laid down though, I kind of panicked because I could not see her. I think a mirror is necessary if my pup were ever to ride back there, crated or otherwise.
Chrystal, does the dog-guard gate thingy work well? I believe they have a similar set-up for the X-Terra. I was just not sure how safe it was overall.
It's job is to keep him in the back, and he does stay there, which is much safer than him roaming the car- he wants to sit up front with me, go from window to window barking at things or stand on the console, which is really unsafe. So I can;t say it's safest from a crash/crumple zone perspective but it is the safest option that I have the means to manage as far as safe while driving is concerned. He slips harnesses pretty readily. I think I would like to get a water noodle though and run it along the bottom bar, just so if we did stop short and he fell against the dog guard bar, it would be padded.
I decided to get the one from Subaru because my sis had used one of the pressure- gates in her car and it bent the interior roofing of her car. And depsite the heavy pressure a golden retriever she was transporting exuberated suffciently to knock it down and scared the other dogs in the car, so I bit the bullet and got the subaru grate. In addition, the pressure gates have bars that run floor-ceiling and since the back of the back seats angle backward, he could not curl up against the back of the seat, he'd be against two poles. The subaru dog guard doesnt go below the back of the seat, only covers the space above the backseat.
It fits in the groove that the window-shade type cargo cover thingy goes in- so that came out and the Dog Guard went in. It has an arm that conforms to shape of the ceiling back there and bolts to one of the child seat anchors in the ceiling, so that anchor point is not longer available to tether carseats to, which is fine with me because my daughter is ten, and if I had to transprt kids in car seats, there are two more anchors anyway. It doesnt wiggle or make noise, and when I had to go to a hockey tournament and throw a lot of gear back there, it was only one bolt to unscrew to remove the DogGuard and take it out. There are no exposed screws or pointy edges.
Because the center shoulder seatbelt comes from the ceiling of the cargo are, part of the grate is bent out to accomodate the seatbelt if I were ever to use it ( i dont) so that kindof takes up some of Sage's space and I would have preferred a flat grating all the way across, but I think they bulged it back because they want the seatbelt itself protected from chewing dogs in the back. This is the one thing I dont like about the subaru dog guard.
I also bought a crate fan from PetEdge that hooks onto the powder-coated bars, and got the adapter so that I can run it off my car's internal outlets. The crate fan has a thermostat so I can set it to go on when the temp is 70° or whatever and it'll go on as long as the car is running. I dont leave dogs in the car but it helps to circulate cool A/C air back to the Sage Section when we're driving in summer.
I used to have a backseat hammock kindof like Kristin's- that I loved, but mine was a different brand and when it finally wore out I was unable to find the same brand again. What I loved about that particular hammock was the ends - where the car doors are- had a soft fabric lip of a couple inches, so that all the sand and dog hair stayed in the hammock and didnt roll off the ends into the car. However at this point my car is so full of sand, mud, dirt, dog hair, crumbs, hay and little things my daughter collects and sticks in the door handles that it is well beyond the salvation of any hammock! "It's what makes a subaru a subaru!"
I don't use wire crates in cars in case of a wreck and the wire spokes sticking out and lacerating the dog.
I have a Honda civic (next car is going to be larger for more crates and air space!), and I can fit 2 Shiba size plastic crates in. I have a backseat hammock, and that keeps them inplace, with the front seats all the way back.
Dawn has a Civic too. Katsu likes it much better than my Sentra for somereason. We went and looked a honda Element last night. They are cool looking, and there's a lot of space but there's some inherent stupidity designed into that car. The suicide doors are cool, but can't be opened unless the frost door is opened, the glass on them can't be lowered. The mini tailgate is annoying too, it's uneccasary and would make climbing in the back annoying.
When I have my dogs inside the car/truck...I let them "free roam". Really, they just sit or lay down whether it's the front passenager seat or the back seat. Though, my dogs prefer the back seat because it gives them more room to move around. Also, it is much more comfortable for them then the passenager seat.
For "restraints"
When I had my 2004 Honda Accord, I used a seatbelt harness on my German Shepherd:
With my 2006 Toyota Tacoma, yes...I use crates:
Inside the truck with the 200 medium crate
Back of truck with 2 crates
I keep these 2 crates in truck at all times. I have a lovely newer crate that I keep inside and just throw on when needed and leave at home when not in use. I had another "nice" crate, but that got stolen -frowns- (see here for details - previous post - Stolen Crate!) . I park on the street mostly and I don't have a garage at this place. Crates are expensive! The two shown were given to me and are somewhat "old". When I finally do get a place with a garage, I'll "upgrade" and put the "nice" crates in the truck when I take the dogs, then leave them off when they're not with. Still contemplating putting a cover over the bed, I want to get one that is "easy" to put on and take off the truck though.
Those tie downs actually have been working to keep the crates in, though I'm looking into getting a "net cover" to cover the crates entirely. On long, weather pending and higher speed road trips...I'll put the dogs in and then push the crates back in reverse. So that the "gate" to the crate is facing "inward" pressed against the back cab of the truck.
I'm still pondering other ways on arranging the crates and keeping them secure. Every year...I learn something new. Perhaps I can get more creative one of these days.
I think that Champion or Roadie makes great crash-tested belts for dogs. There was a study in which they crash-tested a fake dog in a strapped down crate. During the crash, the crate was smashed open and didn't seem to really be able to protect the dog in case of an accident.
<A crash test done by Allianz Insurance Company in Germany shows debris flying freely in the test car after the dog crate exploded on impact. The crate was fastened securely in the vehicle with the seatbelt. The crate exploded because the "dummy dog" hit the inside of the crate with such extreme force that the crate opened up and the dog continued to fly out of the car. Remember that any loose object in the car is a potential unguided missile. The real question here should be, "is anyone safe in the car with a dog in a crate"?>
Many other belts available at large pet stores seem okay, but aren't actually crash tested. The ones with plastic snap buckles IMO are not strong enough to brake a thrown dog. If I didn't buy Roadie seat belts for the pups, I'd get harnesses with metal D rings that I could thread the belt though.. I'd take that over the plastic snap bucklets anyday.
Comments
I think if she were going to do some major traveling, I might have to think about a crate in the car, but she gets so unhappy in the crate that I try to keep crating to a minimum.
I love the whole dog friendly Honda Element Concept. But I'm not crazy where the crate is. Maybe I'm just to paranoid.
http://automobiles.honda.com/element/dog-accessories.aspx
http://www.barkandgiggleboutique.com/mochi.html
http://www.amazon.com/Outward-Hound-Back-Hammock-Cover/dp/B001P7DP2C
Growing up on a farm, we always rode in the back of vehicles (and were probably fairly lax on the seat belts - both for humans and animals), so I guess I never think of it as being unsafe. However, it's quite different to do things out in the middle of nowhere flitting from field to field, than it is in city traffic or on long trips
Chrystal, does the dog-guard gate thingy work well? I believe they have a similar set-up for the X-Terra. I was just not sure how safe it was overall.
I decided to get the one from Subaru because my sis had used one of the pressure- gates in her car and it bent the interior roofing of her car. And depsite the heavy pressure a golden retriever she was transporting exuberated suffciently to knock it down and scared the other dogs in the car, so I bit the bullet and got the subaru grate. In addition, the pressure gates have bars that run floor-ceiling and since the back of the back seats angle backward, he could not curl up against the back of the seat, he'd be against two poles. The subaru dog guard doesnt go below the back of the seat, only covers the space above the backseat.
It fits in the groove that the window-shade type cargo cover thingy goes in- so that came out and the Dog Guard went in. It has an arm that conforms to shape of the ceiling back there and bolts to one of the child seat anchors in the ceiling, so that anchor point is not longer available to tether carseats to, which is fine with me because my daughter is ten, and if I had to transprt kids in car seats, there are two more anchors anyway. It doesnt wiggle or make noise, and when I had to go to a hockey tournament and throw a lot of gear back there, it was only one bolt to unscrew to remove the DogGuard and take it out. There are no exposed screws or pointy edges.
Because the center shoulder seatbelt comes from the ceiling of the cargo are, part of the grate is bent out to accomodate the seatbelt if I were ever to use it ( i dont) so that kindof takes up some of Sage's space and I would have preferred a flat grating all the way across, but I think they bulged it back because they want the seatbelt itself protected from chewing dogs in the back. This is the one thing I dont like about the subaru dog guard.
I also bought a crate fan from PetEdge that hooks onto the powder-coated bars, and got the adapter so that I can run it off my car's internal outlets. The crate fan has a thermostat so I can set it to go on when the temp is 70° or whatever and it'll go on as long as the car is running. I dont leave dogs in the car but it helps to circulate cool A/C air back to the Sage Section when we're driving in summer.
I used to have a backseat hammock kindof like Kristin's- that I loved, but mine was a different brand and when it finally wore out I was unable to find the same brand again. What I loved about that particular hammock was the ends - where the car doors are- had a soft fabric lip of a couple inches, so that all the sand and dog hair stayed in the hammock and didnt roll off the ends into the car. However at this point my car is so full of sand, mud, dirt, dog hair, crumbs, hay and little things my daughter collects and sticks in the door handles that it is well beyond the salvation of any hammock!
For those who use crates, how do you keep them from moving around?
I have a Honda civic (next car is going to be larger for more crates and air space!), and I can fit 2 Shiba size plastic crates in. I have a backseat hammock, and that keeps them inplace, with the front seats all the way back.
For "restraints"
When I had my 2004 Honda Accord, I used a seatbelt harness on my German Shepherd:
With my 2006 Toyota Tacoma, yes...I use crates:
Inside the truck with the 200 medium crate
Back of truck with 2 crates
I keep these 2 crates in truck at all times. I have a lovely newer crate that I keep inside and just throw on when needed and leave at home when not in use. I had another "nice" crate, but that got stolen -frowns- (see here for details - previous post - Stolen Crate!) .
I park on the street mostly and I don't have a garage at this place. Crates are expensive! The two shown were given to me and are somewhat "old". When I finally do get a place with a garage, I'll "upgrade" and put the "nice" crates in the truck when I take the dogs, then leave them off when they're not with. Still contemplating putting a cover over the bed, I want to get one that is "easy" to put on and take off the truck though.
Those tie downs actually have been working to keep the crates in, though I'm looking into getting a "net cover" to cover the crates entirely. On long, weather pending and higher speed road trips...I'll put the dogs in and then push the crates back in reverse. So that the "gate" to the crate is facing "inward" pressed against the back cab of the truck.
I'm still pondering other ways on arranging the crates and keeping them secure. Every year...I learn something new. Perhaps I can get more creative one of these days.
<A crash test done by Allianz Insurance Company in Germany shows debris flying freely in the test car after the dog crate exploded on impact. The crate was fastened securely in the vehicle with the seatbelt. The crate exploded because the "dummy dog" hit the inside of the crate with such extreme force that the crate opened up and the dog continued to fly out of the car. Remember that any loose object in the car is a potential unguided missile. The real question here should be, "is anyone safe in the car with a dog in a crate"?>
Many other belts available at large pet stores seem okay, but aren't actually crash tested. The ones with plastic snap buckles IMO are not strong enough to brake a thrown dog. If I didn't buy Roadie seat belts for the pups, I'd get harnesses with metal D rings that I could thread the belt though.. I'd take that over the plastic snap bucklets anyday.