Hello,

I put my dog (6 months) in one of the red car harness's today that you can get from Pets at Home.  When I braked (not hard - honestly) at traffic lights, his back end hit the back of my seat and then fell down the back of my seat.  I do cover the back seats in a plastic sheet which is slippy I suppose but I still don't think this should have happened.  I really thought he had hurt himself and since this has happened once before, i am beginning to think that it will do nothing if I have an accident.  As the harness fits round his upper chest, it doesn't seem to control his lower half and it has now begun to worry me.

Has anyone else had trouble with these harnesses?  Is there some other way I can secure him?  I have though about removing the parcel shelf and putting him in the boot.  I really don't know what to do to make him as safe as possible.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I use them and never had any probs.  SIlly question but the car seat belt was done up? It should tighten when you brake to stop this.

The seatbelt was done up.  I thought the way they worked was to lock if there was need to stop the passenger (or dog) moving forward. 

<<When I braked (not hard - honestly)>>

I think this was your problem. Just as you can lean forward when seat belted so can your dog move. it is only when you brake harder than a certain point that the belt locks up. Obviously you never reached that amount of deceleration and your dog, being on a slippery surface, could not avoid sliding off the seat.

Regards, John

I would try putting an old blanket on the seat instead of plastic, she'll have more grip :)

My cars a hatchback and my parcel shelf has been removed from the day I got it and the dog goes in the boot.

I tend to agree with John's interpretation :) unless you mean that the belt  and harness did their job but the back end swung round? This is something i have often wondered about as my dog is in a harness in a hammock in the middle seats of our estate (had too many cars go up the back of me without it being my fault to be happy with any dog in the back) and as her harness controls her upper body.

I have often thought that in an accident her lower body could possibly swing round and her back could be damaged :(  It does worry me, i just cannot settle on a safe way or place to put the dog.

Lindsay
X

I was told many years ago that the safest place for a dog to travel in a car is in the front passenger footwell. Though with the flimsiness of many modern cars I would think that the floor between the front and rear seats is now safer. But not many have enough room. :(

I would think the boot is possibly the most dangerous place to put a dog having seen the way cars crumple when rear ended.

I've never seen the wisdom of these people carriers with seats only just big enough for a child in what is effectively the boot, what a place to put your most valuable cargo.

I have one of those people carriers. With 4 children and 2 adults could you please tell me the alternatives?
There is always a danger...where ever you are sitting in a car.We all do the best to minimise the dangers but there are limits. My dogs travel in a crate,in the boot.When all the humans need to travel the crage is removed and my children sit in the seats in the 2nd and 3rd rows....
Archer

A young baby was killed near us recently travelling in a baby seat in the front seat of her parents car :(

When I was in hospital as a child, having been hit by a car crossing the road on the way to school, there were two young woman. One had a broken neck (fortunately wasn't paralyzed) - but was lucky to be alive because she had been driving a large car. The other had a broken femur, like me, and was lucky to be alive because she had been driving a mini. We were all lucky - the unlucky ones were dead - whether they were in big cars or little cars, depending on the type of accident and the luck of the draw.

Daisy

a young baby near us died aswell recently in a mini in the front it was really sad she was only 7 weeks like daisy said it is just fate really. Max sits in our front passenger footwell at the moment but dont think he will fit there for much longer dont know what i am going to do then

Was it a proper harness designed to be used as a seat belt?

Fagans back end would fall off the seat too if we braked, and he was wearing a proper doggy seatbelt all fitted correctly.  I now have a hammock in the car which attaches to front and back headrests and therefore the dog cannot fall on the floor.  In an ideal world I suppose I would have a car specially kitted out with cages in the boot but unfortunately im skint :D

I was thinking about this whilst out in the car earlier, and I think while these dog harnesses are sold as protection for our beloved dogs, really the theory in them is that they are protection for us - a loose dog in a car can be lethal to a human passenger if involved in a collision and police/road safety peeps recommend that harnesses, cages or guards are used.

Until the day that car manufacturers can produce special dog seatbelts that are fitted in the car and rigourously tested in the way human seatbelts are with dummies etc (and I don't see this happening in the near future), no harness is going to give proper protection the way the manufactured human seatbelts are.

However, until that day, the next best thing are doggy seatbelts which clip onto human seatbelts.  They will stop a dog being thrown across the car in a collision, possibly killing a human passenger and possibly smashing through the windscreen and being killed themselves (as happened to a dog belonging to a friend of a friend), but they're not going to stop the possibility that they might hit the back of the seat in front or fall on the floor.  Hopefully though, in a real impact, they would stop this happening and may prevent death but its probably the best you can hope for.

I can't use mine (the same kind, Pets at Home) in the back on my dog, as she stands up, hanging off the edge of the seat - its hard to explain but she stands sideways, with her feet as near to the edge of the actual seat as she can darn well get them, very peculiar, and just hangs there for the journey.  Therefore I always travel with her on my lap on the front seat, clipped to my own seatbelt, where i can hang on to her and she always sits nicely.  Not ideal I know (fortunately we don't have a passenger airbag) but until I think of a new solution, this is what we do.

My only tip would be to look at other seatbelts.  Tohme often recommends one, I think its from Company of Animals which is highly recommended as being the safest dog seatbelt you can buy - perhaps she could confirm where it comes from and you could have a look at that instead of the Pets at Home red one, if you're really worried.

Found it:  http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/roadie.php