How do you guys take your puppies in the car?

[StunnedMonkey]

When we got Darby she weighed about 7 pounds and we drove her home in a box where she napped. She's now 13 pounds and whenever I drive her somewhere I put her on the front seat next to me...IN THE SAME BOX! :yikes: Needless to say she's too big for it, but it does keep her from jumping around. Of course, she's chewed it down about 2 inches shorter all around.

So how do you guys contain your pups on short jaunts of less than say, 30 minutes? I'd love it if she'd just sit patiently on the seat like a well-mannered adult dog, but there's no escaping the fact that Darby (at 3 1/2 months) is not yet a well-mannered adult dog. Despite the fact that she loves her regular crate at home we've never successfully gotten her inside a travel crate, and that seems too much for a 10 minute trip to the ball diamond.

Any suggestions for a jumping pup in the car when there's no one else to hold her?

 

[Herschel]

A box? Come on, I expected more from you!

Two goals:
1) Keep the dog from jumping all over the place
2) Make sure the dog is safe, even in the event of an accident.

I bought a PetBuckle car harness for Herschel. http://www.immioutdoors.com/petbuckle/
It fits any dog from 10-200 pounds so it will keep up with Darby as she grows.

I bought mine for $30 from Sitstay.com. http://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/petbuckle.shtml

Unlike a lot of products, it is crash tested. We leave one of the seat belts in our car buckled in with the PetBuckle attached so its just a matter of having Herschel jump in the car, go to his seat, and then we buckle him in.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

A box? Come on, I expected more from you!

You did? :lol-sign:

Yeah OK. The box isn't exactly a good idea. But that harness thing looks pretty good. I think I'll look into that. How difficult is it to actually get a squirming dog into it? I realize that's dependent on the cooperation level of the dog of course. Is it one of those things that ends up being too much trouble for a 5 minute drive?

10 to 200 pounds? Darby has been adding about a pound a week, so I guess she'll outgrow that harness when she's about 4 years old.

 

[bubbatd]

I confess that I never have restrained my Goldens in my car . BUT--- the front seat was always a no-no at any age. Until they learned , I blocked off the front from the back . Ollie is terrified of sirens ( think he was is a wreck once ) and the other day did jump up in front .....when I pulled out into the road again , my car wouldn't move ....he had pushed the clutch into neutral .

 

[showpug]

Crate!

 

[SummerRiot]

Riot has a seatbelt! lol

He hates it though..

 

[Spirit2010]

Well, I make Whisper Sit, when I am in the car with her, and she is on a collar and leash. And I pull back gently on the leash, and make her sit. And she sits right by me! But only if she is on the leash, I am thinking about one of those car seatbelts for her, and Hershey so I can take them places when I can drive!!!

 

[Beanie]

Auggie rides in my lap, and I hold onto his harness instead of him. We wanted a seatbelt for him, and this nice thing that was like a hammock that you attach to the headrest of the front seat and stretch to the backseat (we have leather seats.) The hammock was sold out, and the seatbelt didn't fit. =P The small was too small, and the medium was too big. Ugh.
I'd like to maybe order something else to try (like the PetBuckle) but I hate to get something else that doesn't fit and have to mess with sending it back, or worse, blowing my cash on something that can't be returned. =/

 

[Maxy24]

If I got a dog he would ride in a crate.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

OK, I went out to see what they had on the shelf at the local Petsmart and walked out with the Easy Rider Car Harness ($18) from Top Paw. I slapped it on her and we went for a drive. A little clunky and I don't know how well it'd contain her if she really decided to go nuts, but it worked OK. She fell asleep after a few minutes so it must not have been that uncomfortable.

Guess it's better than the box, but I'll keep my eyes open for other solutions too.

 

[bubbatd]

I agree it's safer , but when I had 4 Goldens , that would have been impossible and I would have had 8 sad eyes not going car-car ! If I had dogs small enough not to look out of windows , I definately would . Half their joy was windows !!

 

[Mac'sMom]

Mac goes to work with us everyday. We have an hour drive. Right now he sleeps in the back seat or sits or sleeps in my lap. We're looking a doggy seat so he would be up high enough to see out the windows. The seat belt attaches to it and then there is a strap to attach to your dogs collar. It's kinda pricey and I'm sure he won't like it.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Only a few models of seatbelt harnesses have actually been crash tested.. I want a better one. I currently have a standard harness connected to a dog seatbelt so she can't got anywhere but that seat.

Not being contained in a crate or seatbelt leads to the potential of the animal flying threw the windshield in a crash not that anyone really wants to think about that.

 

[LhasaLover]

I don't know how many of you heard this, or remember, but several years ago there was a horrible, god-awful incident at the Los Angeles Airport that still haunts me, which is why Pinkie's always, seriously, attached to me in the car.

A woman was picking someone up at the airport and had her Bichon with her, sitting in her lap. She accidentally rear-ended the guy in front of her, who, it turned out, had a rage problem. He jumped out of his car and raced back to her, angry & screaming. She was trying to apologize when he suddenly reached into the car, grabbed her dog, and threw him out on the freeway, into traffic. The dog was immediately hit & killed, and the guy took off. I don't think they ever found the guy who did it. I can't even imagine how horrifying that was for the dog's owner.

Between that and the stories I hear of dogs getting loose & running after accidents, I do everything I can to make sure Pinkie's safe, as well as happy. (Willie's still gets car sick, so he's not an issue yet)

For errand trips around town, Pinkie rides on my left thigh with my arm around her belly, sitting up & looking out the window. She also has a regular harness & leash on, which is firmly wrapped & entwined around my left hand so she's not going anywhere I'm not going. It took a few months for her to learn not to get in the way of the steering wheel or my arm, if it needs to move, but she's a perfect rider now.

For long trips she rides in the passenger seat and has a special travel harness with a sheepskin chest that I hook the regular seatbelt through, then latch the seatbelt normally, so it locks if I have to hit the brakes.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

Am I to understand that you guys are actually holding your dogs in your lap WHILE YOU DRIVE??? Is that even legal? I can't imagine trying to contain Darby on my lap while driving...especially if I'm eating a Jimmy John's Gargantuan at the same time.

 

[LhasaLover]

Pinkie's only 15 lbs. and on my left thigh, next to the door. She's not "in" my lap, as in between me & the steering wheel, if that's what you're asking? She doesn't get in the way of anything at all. As far as legal, I can't imagine that it would be any more illegal than eating, drinking, or talking on the cell phone while driving.

 

[bubbatd]

I may be faulted for letting big dogs free in the back of an SUV , but I would never have any dog in front seat unless in a special seat ! I knew of someone who braked suddenly and the dog rolled off the seat . It ended up under the pedals and she sure had problems . All was well , but luckily she was a good driver .

 

[blue]

THe hellions stay in the back of my Jeep. Yes I know its dangerous, I need to get a barior between the back and front. Even more dangerous is they will jump around back there. 65 and 75 pound dog will rock a Grand Cherokee pretty good, even more so on icy roads.

 

[bubbatd]

Blue ... I've set up everything from cookie coolers to baby gates ! I agree , the back to front is scary !

 

[Beanie]

Am I to understand that you guys are actually holding your dogs in your lap WHILE YOU DRIVE??? Is that even legal?

I don't drive. I'm always the passenger. So no, absolutely not.
But yes, people do that. It's probably legal but it's definitely not safe IMO, for the driver or the dog.


MafiaPrincess, you're absolutely right. It's in my mind every time we get in the car. I'd really really like something to fit him properly and actually be safe... I know just holding him, even by the harness, is probably not enough if we were in a crash. =/ I have heard too many stories of people, dogs, and children flying through a windshield in an accident...

LhasaLover, that story is horrible. Now I have something else to worry about. Yikes!