I am wanting to get a dog guard for my car to put my 22 week old springer in the rear of the car.  My husband seems to think this is not a good idea, incase a car crashes in to the back of ours (never happend yet though).  Does any one know of the best way to travel with a dog in a car.  At the moment she sits/lies on the front passenger seat (or on the floor).  Would appreciate any suggestions.

There was a programme a while back now, but it was a fly-on-the-wall type programme following a Police force. The TV crew shadowed a Traffic Unit to a single vehicle accident on a motorway. A car had left the motorway, crossed a ditch, somersaulted, ploughed through a fence and ended up 100 feet into a field. The driver sustained cuts and bruises. The drivers dog who had been in the back of the car was thrown clear of the vehicle and was killed. The police officer pointed out that the driver was saved by his seat belt and that the dog, who was unrestricted, had been killed because he was thrown clear of the vehicle. If the dog had been caged or had a seat belt on he would not have died.The Police Officers buried the dog at the scene.  A loose dog in any part of your vehicle becomes a missile in an accident. Many people have been killed when hit by a dog that has been flung forward. This also applies to anything else that you may carry on your back parcel shelf. Dogs that are thrown out of vehicles in RTA are often killed by oncoming or following vehicles. In my opinion, the safest place for a dog is in a cage and there are many to choose from :)

I definately would not put a dog in the front, my next door neighbour used to be a paramedic and he says the worst accident he attended was apparently caused by a dog in the front distracting the driver.  The accident was on a dual carriage way and the car was doing about 70, I'll spare you the details but it apparently took some while to pick up all the pieces of driver and dog :(.

We have an MPV and there is not really enough room for a guard in the back so we were looking at a harness thing that attaches to a seat belt - anyone tried one of these?

Steve

There was a dog killed last year that was wearing a seat belt harness

A late friend of mine used to make made to measure car crates, one lady collected hers for her new car & on the way home was sideswiped by a lorry on the motorway & the car somesaulted down into a field ending up upside down. Both she & her dogs survived(the car was a write off) & according to the firebrigade & paramedics the crate saved her life as well as the dogs

My dogs have travelled in crates since 1987 when my friends Ridgebacks were killed on the A1 after an accident when the tailgate was opened & the dogs escaped & got knocked down

All my crates have had escape hatches

>>There was a dog killed last year that was wearing a seat belt harness

Not wishing to get into an argument but how many dogs have survived whilst wearing a seat belt harness in road traffic accidents?
Also how many dogs each year have died in RTA even though they were in crates/cages in the back of the vehicles?

I ask these questions as people do die each year in RTA's even though they were wearing seatbelts ( the approved safety device for humans ) :)

The other dogs in  the vehicle were in crates & lived. It depends on the accident This car was hit from the side.

I have a policeman friend who attends RTAs most days of the week. His dogs travel in a made to measure car crate he made the decision from his experience of RTAs over the past 15 years. They previously had harnesses

I don't suppose anyone keeps figures, but if the harness is incorrectly fitted or the dog chews the seatbelt(as happened to someone at our club) the dog can get injured

I know a lot of emergency services people might be interesting to ask them

I think the point we are trying to make is that the use of a cage or seat belt can influence the outcome of a RTA. This is a fact. If your number is up it is up, but at least this way you are increasing your/your dogs chances of survival. Lose animals thrown from vehicles and into the road, are likely to cause even more chaos and injury.

Oh i agree there Admin...
I just thought it would be interesting to know how many dogs do survive wearing harnesses as you only ever really hear about the ones that dont. And as they are being sold as a safety device for dogs it would be good to know how safe they really are.

I am using one at the moment( a harness) as i have a pick up truck which as yet does not have a hard top on the back ( trying to locate cheap one) so i am unable to use a crate at the moment. But if i was to find out that harnesses really arnt any safer than just laying the back seat say then i would be getting that top quick smart and using OH's van which can take the crate in the meantime. :)

You may find this file from www.RoSPA.co.uk of interest:

Carrying Pets Safely

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/info/pets.pdf

I have an RAC harness seatbelt for my Bulldog i only have a KA and he sits happily in the back.

I would never let mine travel loose, they are either in car harness on the back seat, or in crates in the boot. :-)

thanks Admin... correct me if im wrong but i assume the piece in that link you wanted me to read was in reference to transporting in open vehicles....yes?

No worries there im not that daft :D it may be a pick up that i have but it does have a back seat which is where kai is in his harness firmly clipped in. ;) :D

I think you would have to look at whether the harness was properly fitted and secured.  Certainly, if properly secured, I believe this is probably the safest way for a dog to travel. Even within a cage the potential for getting up a bit of momentum before striking the sides is probably enough to kill a dog if it caught it's neck, for instance, at a bad angle.  Having said that I do use a cage as the most practical arrangement for us and at least it ensures the safety of all the humans in the car :o.  Sadly I have not been able to find any cage manufactured under a guarantee of performance, British Kite Mark for example, so it seems very unlikely that much protection can be guaranteed by any of them placed in the hatch area which of course is designed to crumple on impact protecting the passenger area.

We had ours fitted and was shown by someone qualified by the RAC (were fortunate to know someone who works for them)
I believe these are as safe as humans in normal seatbelts.

The main thing is to keep your pet as safe as possible.
When I had my first dog, I had a saloon so the boot wasn't usuable. So I bought a crate that sat on the back with the passenger seat pushed back against it. I felt this was the safest thing I could do at the time.
Knowing I wanted more dogs and with my car seeing the end of it's days.
I decided to buy an estate purely so that I could have a good cage put in the back.
I have a guardsman which has a divider and two emergency panels at the motorway. Please if you get a cage for the car, get the emergency panels. If your rearended and can't get in through the boot. Your dogs are trapped!!! This to me is the safest way for me to travel with my dogs. Personally I would never just put a dog guard up. As the dogs are loose in the back and would be prone to being thrown about. If you have the boot space, get a good car cage (not the flimsy collapsable ones). Otherwise invest in a good seat harness for your dog and again avoid the cheap nylon ones.
When I'm in my car I want to protect my dogs as much as I would want to protect a child. My dogs mean everything to me and I have done everything I can to keep them safe.

Dog guards of the type you buy from Halfords etc are generally worse than useless; any dog larger than a jack russell can easily push it over, let alone what happens when a loose dog hits it in a RTA.

You would be better off:

Getting a custom car cage, this means the dog will be entirely protected, so will your car from chewing, you can leave the windows and tail gate open in hot weather and you can have escape hatches put in in case of a rear end shunt.

Alternatively a custom made dog guard with a tailgate which will allow you to raise the tailgate during hot weather but will not protect the interior from a destructive dog.  The dog guard will be properly fitted again they can have escape hatches.

A fold flat cage which can be tied down, not as robust as custom car cages but better than a loose dog.

Seat belts are good if they fit, do not rub.

where do you get custom car cages from? presumably they go in the boot and are strapped to anchorage points?

My custom transit box is a lintran & doesn't need to be fastened down as it fills the luggage space & with the seats up cannot move anywhere my car has a well in the luggage space so cannot slide baclways even with the tail gate up (& has,as have all my custom dog crates,an escape door). It has locking doors & being partly solid & white keeps the dog hair out of the car & is very cool even when the car is totally closed up in hot weather(without the dogs in it of course)I did some temperature readings & there was a considerable  difference !

I would hope no one using a harness has their dog on the passenger seat if their car has an airbag for obvious reasons & also never leaves their dog on a harness in the car alone not just for safety reasons but of course they are open to an easy target for thieves

Im sure most of us are sensible on here and wouldnt do that anyway Moonmaiden. My dog sits in the back with his harness on and would never ever leave my Bulldog in the car on its own.

You would be very surpised one of the trainee trainers at a club I go to always trains her dog on the front passenger seat & yes she has an airbag in her car :rolleyes:

One of the most dangerous places for a dog to travel is the front passenger foot well, in an serious front end accident the dog is more than likely to be killed  or severely hurt