What Your Dog Trainer Wishes You Knew About Car Safety
Accidents aside, one of the biggest dangers I see when transporting your dog in a vehicle isn’t actually during the drive (although that can be dicey if the dog wants to…“help”). It’s the unloading.
How many times have you danced around the outside of your car door trying to get it open without your dog escaping?
Folks, it doesn’t have to be that hard or hazardous! There are a couple of EXTREMELY simple, no-training-required solutions.
Option #1: Crate
Not everyone’s dog is small enough or car large enough for this, but crating your dog for travel completely eliminates the door dance. With your dog crated, you can easily open the car door without worrying about him darting away into the parking lot or neighborhood.
Problem solved.
Mia rides crated for behavioral reasons
Option #2: Tether/seatbelt
This is what I do the vast majority of the time. I have a very short, chew-proof tether attached to one of the child seat anchor points in my car. When it’s time to travel, I connect the other end to the dog’s harness* and we’re good to go. (Click here for harness suggestions)
Again, I can open the car door without worrying about him escaping. Some dogs may still try to dart as the door opens, but they won’t get very far.
I do combine this with a car hammock so the dog won’t fall into the floor during travel.
*I do NOT recommend attaching the tether to a collar. This seems very injurious in the event of an accident.
Cocoa tethered for safer car rides
Level Up
To take both these options up a notch for safety in accidents, you can consider crash-tested equipment:
Sleepypod Clickit Sport and Terrain (harness)