Dog In Vehicle -Car Harnesses/Safety

I bought the Champion Canine Restraint system. It was expensive, and you have to keep after them to get your stuff, but it is the best-quality I've ever seen. The restraint strap is short and would work just fine with a dog lying down.

There's a picture on the site of a dog lying down with the restraint on.

I've been meaning to take a picture of Sofia in hers. I'll try to get to that this week.

http://www.champk-9.com/CRS.htm

I'm pretty strict about seatbelts for people, so I insist my dog wear one as well. Penny has a harness seatbelt that has a loop you can thread the middle belt through. You can lengthen the seatbelt to give your dog enough slack to lie down. There's no way I'd expect Pen to sit for 10 minutes, let alone the hours she spends in the car when we're driving to and from my parents' place. She's had it her whole life, which is nearly 11 years, now. It looks pretty much new, still. You can also get adjustable belt-like leads that have one end that can click into any seatbelt buckle lock thing and have a clip on the other end that you can attach either to the collar or a seatbelt harness. They also attach to child seat securement points if you have a wagon. I think they're great.

Seatbelts for dogs are smart. I heard of someone who walked their dog on a seatbelt harness, but didn't use it in the car (don't ask me why, I don't know). They had to emergency brake one day and the dog went straight through the front windscreen. She was relatively unscathed, but it was months before she'd get back in the car.

I've been thinking of getting one for Marlowe, so I'm also interested in this topic. Marlowe has started to dislike the car and I think the main reason is that he's never really *gotten* that he should sit down so he doesn't fly around the back seat every time we turn or break. We rarely go on car trips more than a couple miles, but I think he's really starting to develop a negative association with the car.

Sofia likes her harness now. At first it was like trying to dress a hyperactive two-yr-old. []

But since COOKIES always happen after getting the harness on she is even starting to hold her paws out. It's so cute!

We live in the land of many, many MOOSE. I don't want Sofia to become a projectile. She is a good little co-pilot, but can still get thrown around a little. I think she's enjoying the extra help the restraint gives her. It's also nice because now if I open the door, I never have to worry that she's going to jump out and run away if she sees another dog walking by.

It's going a long way toward teaching her not to jump out of the car/truck until I say "Let's go." A couple times I've had her on her leash and said "Let's go!" and she looks at me all pained.....I forgot to unhook the restraint!

Silly mom! [8D]

I think they're a great idea because of course if an accident were to happen, I don't want him hurt -and second, him flying around the vehicle in an accident could mean him hurting us, and that's a lot of risk.
 
He loves the car, and his head is out the window consistently until we start pushing 80-90km/hr, then he usualy lies down. He is great with corners and braking, his leaning is sometimes really funny on some tight turns!!
 
It will be worthwhile for me to do my research I think, and get to trying some of those on (well Bailey trying them on, ha ha), to really be confortable with something effective.

The other thing is that I've seen dogs survive an accident only to go dashing around in traffic! That's a terrifying thought to me!

Just to make folks feel better, the last time I saw this EVERYONE stopped and someone coaxed the freaked out sheltie into a van and took it back to the dazed owner.

I love Fairbanks.

I love the doggie seat belt idea and wish it worked for my boy.
 
I just got the harness/seatbelt for my Boxer in the very first time I strapped him in it took him all of maybe 3 minutes to figure out he can stand up and walk backwards and pull the dang harness off over his head.
 
I wish I could use this as my car is far to small to fit a crate big enough to hold him in the car.

Do people put those "cage" or wall like thingy's in their vehicles (like back of SUV or hatchback type for keeping the dog back there while driving or for safety? (or both?)
 
I don't have a vehicle that could accomodate for one, but always wanted to know.

I just got the harness/seatbelt for my Boxer in the very first time I strapped him in it took him all of maybe 3 minutes to figure out he can stand up and walk backwards and pull the dang harness off over his head.

 
Yep.  They can. And do when they are in the mood.  Pofi did this once when I was actually using the harness to walk him to dog park and I tied him to a bike rack to run into the store for 1 minute or less to get water to bring and was startled when someone remarked, "There's a dog in the store"!  He had backed out and followed into the store (auto door) and was proudly trotting toward me- clearly I had forgotten him.
 
He also did this in the car recently on our trip to CO.  So I stop the car, get out, put him back in and go.  The car does not move unless he's belted in. Since he wants to get where we are going, it works.
 
I don't care for Mia's, I'll get her a Roadie Ruff Rider, too.  In fact, I'll get Pofi a new one - they now have a version lined with lambswool.  Unless I get swayed to the one Jeano has for Sofia.

Personally, I crate Maggie. I've tried the harness thing and she manages to end up super tangled and unable to move in just about 10 mins; she does the same thing if tethered w/ a leash in the car, so it's a crate for her.    Not to mention that she's more nervous when she can see cars moving past.
 
I do like the look of Bebop USA's new car harness; I haven't used it myself for the above reasons, but all the other stuff I've gotten from them is top notch.  Here's the site: [linkhttp://www.bebopusa.com/product_info.php?cat=21]http://www.bebopusa.com/product_info.php?cat=21[/link]

Harnesses are good for big dogs. The little ones do well in a good car seat. I tried several, but this is the best I have seen. I ordered the Fido Rido. Trudy can sit up and look outside the windows or  sleep and  be safe. She loves it, SOOO SOFT. Most of them are not soft, but this one really is.