Ride2Live

When the windows are down and his head is in the wind, the hair just swirls in the car.

amiro

That's what I thought, until a few pointed out to me that in the event of an accident / sudden braking, that's a lot of force to be exerted on the dog's neck, which I can see. Although being loose in the trunk I'd think can't be good for the dog either in those cases, but I guess it would be better than being on a 2 foot leash attached to her collar.

The other idea I had which is a hybrid would be to attach a harness to a 2 foot leash and attach that to the floor hooks, but that would be a PITA having to take the harness on and off her each time.

joenok

I did some reading about this just now. Some ads for safer driving here state, roughly transelated:

Having a cage is to add safety for the dog and the cars driver/passenger.
For the dog, it adds to safety to have small, restricted area to move around in, in the event of a crash/emergency braking or a roll-over
-as opposed to flying loosly around inside the car.

As for the driver it´s all about keeping the dog away from the coupé in a similar situation. -A 90 lbs dog will, taking velocity into account, as in a crash, end up weighing 880 lbs, if coming to a direct standstill from driving in 30mph. This means, if it hits you in the back of your head or neck, it´s fatal to say the least.

I can honestly say, I don´t usually think about this when driving around with the dog in the back.
ooh;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts4sMQA4zqA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYms1d6oyz8

amiro

Thx 4 the heads up.

amiro

Wow, thanks. So do most people there who put their dogs in the back of a wagon (trunk area, not back seat area) just leave them loose and use a metal dog guard above the back seats?

Or do you put a harness on the dog too in the trunk, and attach it to one of the floor hooks (if there are any)?

Kristopher

My dog lays down on a dog bed behind the rear seats, but he's 'loose' back there.

I never let him stand while the car is moving. So it'll help a bit but he'd still be one hurt dog in a crash.

For other passenger's safety I really hate having the dog in the back seat. And my wife is never allowed to put her purse on her floor either...it goes behind and under the seat. I've witness too many injuries from loose cargo.

Any suggestions on how to better protect the dog would be awesome.

Mike B

They make dog harnesses that attach to seatbelts. They were a failure for me. Both of my dogs squirmed out of their harnesses within a few minutes. They just aren't secure enough; at least the ones I found weren't.

amiro

Only solution I can think of using the cargo area and a secured dog is to put a harness on the dog, with a short two foot leash attached to a floor tie down hook.