i am gettin a pup at the weekend.hes only 7 weeks.i realise he cant go out til all jabs are complete,but we travel a lot, every other weekend 3 n a half hours then back that a couple days later.we are considering what will be the best way to transport him,and went to the pet shop n saw a dog seat belt.i wondered if any1 has ever used these and what opinions people have on these?

For a pup and older dog the best thign woudl be a crate in the car.  If you don't ahve a hatchback or estate and can't fit a crate on back seat then the harnesses are find for the dog when older.  You will need soem form of carreir for the pup while it's small.

I've always used seatbelts for my dogs from being about 12 weeks old.

A lot will depend on the size of the breed at 12 weeks.  Certainly wouldn't want to put a 12 week toy bred in one, but my breed might be OK.

I tried a seat belt for our 8 month old terrier cross - a rescue we have had from 6 months old who weighed around 8kg. Have to say it didn't work particularly well as he managed to get stuck between the seat belt and the seat and got in a right tangle :) As Brainless has said I think he was physically too small for it to be effective. It also gave him quite a bit of freedom and I found it very distracting as a driver as I was looking in the mirror all the time to see if he was chewing anything. He also kept trying to get into the cargo area to be with our other dog.

We used a crate when our GR was a puppy and it was brilliant so went out and bought  a much smaller version for Cooper and it is the ideal solution for him.

Yes, sorry of course it depends on the size/breed of your puppy, my dogs are goldens so at 12 weeks the small size seatbelts work fine and now they are fully grown one has a medium and the other large size seatbelts.

It is not illegal to travelwith an unrestrained dog, thereis nothing in the RTA tothis effect.  However as has already beensaid it would be dangerous for the dog and others.

The law requires that you not be distracted whilst driving and if a dog is in a crate should a crash occur then the dog cannnot be thorwn through the windscreen, jump through a window/door that has opened and be killed, lost or cause others to have accidents whilst trying to avoid it.

No seatbelts in the UK have a BSi/EN/ISO quality mark, the nearest you will get to it is the dog safety belt sold by Over the Top Textiles which is TUV ie meets quality standards in Sweden and Germany.

The Roadie is the US equivalent.

Interestingly Trevor Turner the vet did a p[iece recently on seatbelts v crates and he had never seen an injury associated with crates but plenty related to seatbelts.

it is a boxer i am gettin - as soon as he is 12 wk im thinkin bout usin 1.i wonder if i buy a small 1?then get bigger as he does?thanks for every1s opinions,very helpful

I had a real struggle with these, I would always adopt the crate option now.

I have not looked on google yet for the answer, but I saw a notice up in my vets to say that it is illegal to travel with a dog in the car unrestrained and without a seatbelt? Is this correct?

Dont know if its illegal, but its certainly foolish and dangerous! Dog could get killed in even a minor shunt, and coudl also be thrown into driver/passengers, killing them. I have seen dogs jumping on the drivers lap...bound to cause an accident! I like mine locked in a crate!!

I use a seatbelt successfully with my afghans BUT would not consider it suitable for a small puppy. Firstly all puppies that I have ever had, took time adjusting to a simple collar and lead....so going straight to seatbelt is not likely to be a success until after the lead and collar bit has been mastered - the pup is likely to become hysterical and get tangled. Secondly, every pup i ever had took some time to get used to the car despite regular practice...and yes that means pooing and weeing itself. I think its not great to put a small pup in a seatbelt and I personally woudl not try it until pup is fully lead trained, and fully used to the car. By far the safest way to transport any dog in the car is to use a crate. The dog is safe, and weeing and pooing isnt too big a disaster. By choice I use a crate for my dogs despite them also being trained to the seat belt for unusual occasions e.g. other peoples cars.

Also lots of pups are Car sick.

I think a 12 week old boxer will quite happily chew through a dog seatbelt, probably closely followed by the back seat :D Better off in a crate if you don't have anyone to sit next to the pup and supervise.

I have used a dog seatbelt and never again!:rolleyes:

Our dog became tangled and nearly broke her legs...would highly recommend a crate (also a puppy will poo, wee and possibly be sick better in a crate/carrier than on your seats!

i would always be sat next to the dog and supervise with out a doubt.people are saying about dog crates but i dont really know what they r.like i say im new to all this.wot exactly r they,where would i get em n how much r they?i have a vauxhall zafira.

Have you got a pets at home store near you? They have dog crates, the price would depend on the size.

yes i have - r the crates the metal grid 1s?i did see some - like cages?have been .lookin bout 4 dog stuff before we colllect him.will he be ok to go in a big 1 even as a puop.i dont want 2 have 2 buy loadsa sizes as he grows if i dont have 2.think the larger 1 was bout 100 - 150 ish,does that sound bout right?

The ones in Pets at home and pet stores are much more expensive than buying direct.  I have seen the cages in the first link I posted and the quality is excellent.  The other company have a good reputation though I haven't seen the cages (not that I was aware of) in person.

The size you will need is only £40 from the Dog Crate company.

Here is a link with crates at good prices.  http://www.ukdogcrate.co.uk/

I would say you will need a crate that is 36 inches long x 24 inches wide and 27 inches high.  Best to get one with two doors, in the short and long side that way you it is more adaptable as to where and which angle it is placed.

as well as being great for Car transport they make great dens for the dog with the door open and somewhere to safely contain them when you need them shut safely away.  It will make visiting Friends and relatives a lot easier as they are unlikely to be fully dog proofed, and you can pop them in there knowing they re safe and won't wreck mother in laws curtains etc.

Also great if staying in a hotel to safely keep out of mischief while you have a meal.  Many places that are not that keen on dogs staying will be Happy with a dog that is going to be crated when unsupervised.

they should never be used to keep a dog in for Long hours, other than sleeping in at night if needing to be shut in.

This shaped Car crate http://www.doghealth.co.uk/flexi.htm maximises th space in the car and can still be used in the same way as a rectangular one.

All these crates fold flat, so are easily stored in an under stairs cupboard, garage etc.

oh dear Angels2, I've never had a problem with the seatbelts as long as they are the right size and adjusted accordingly you shouldn't really get their legs tangled, in fact I'm not sure where or how their legs could get tangled the one we have is a harness that fits snugly around their chest.

thanks brainless.thats so helpful,i will def be followin that up - links r v handy.also i thought that seat belts were quite safe,didnt understand how a dog would gt tangled but i gues every1 has diff experiences.

I know a number of Boxer owners/breeders and chewing up of the car interior is a major possibility, definitely a crate will make life easier and less expensive than replacing car interiors.

One of my friends Boxers chewed up the gear stick in the time it took for her to go back into the training hail to pick up her bag of dog food the trainer had got for her.  He wasn't even a puppy!

We used the harness seat belt and our youngster chewed the seat belt just a little in my SAAB. With the strict MOT inspections these days it had to be replaced. Cost us £100.

The next year our new youngster did the same...just a few seconds mouthing the seat belt and another £100.

Now I  use dog crates! And I drive a car with cheaper seatbelts!

Dorain went in a crate in the car when he was a puppy, and Duibh still does, but Dorain does have a car harness\ seatbelt now. Works fine for him. Friends with 4 goldens I think have 2 on harnesses in the back & 2 in the boot. I wouldn't personally use a car harness until the dog's older and got used to the car (and you'll also have to buy new ones as he outgrows them unless you wait till he's getting on for fully grown! ;) ).

I'm not sure either, it was the seatbelt she was tangled in (the human one!):rolleyes:

But it was 5 years ago they probably have improved since then!

We didnt have ours on seatbelts but were left on their own (ok it was 2 danes) while we literally ran into Asda we came back to half a back seat 3years ago on a then 1year old vauxhall astra.. (gutted wasnt the word)

We then got a van all caged out :D

I'm starting to think that the small bits of handiwork my dogs have added to the car's resale value (ahem) are relatively mild!

This might be a bit of a morbid question but what is a dog's chance of survival if in a crate during a crash (in terms of being shunted around)? Would the dog seatbelt be better to immobilise the dog than a crate? (Personally I would probably use a crate to transport a dog but I'm just curious).

We brought a harness from Seapets which has a small attatchment bit which goes through the seatbelt and it has a clip on the end.
The harness also has a small attatchment bit which clips onto the clip on the seatbelt, its so handy as you can walk away with her in her harness and when we get back, simply bung her on the back seat, re attatch the 2 bits and she strapped in by her harness and can move as far as the attatchment will move up the seatbelt, very secure and handy!

I've tried two sorts of car harnesses for dogs. One had a clip that threaded through the cars seatbelt but it was just a plastic clip like you get on bum bags and imo would come undone in a crash. The second one was better in that it had a metal clip that actually fitted into the cars seat belt bit but the harness round the dog is still secured with a bumbag type clip. I had to break hard once when my dog was  wearing it and as I feared the clip just came undone.

What I would like is a harness with metal clips and not silly plastic ones:rolleyes:

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/shop_store/Roadie_Dog_Safety_Harness_p2818.html

i don't think you can beat this one. Any stress areas are just the nylon strapping. There are a few plastic clips but as i say they don't take any stress.

Expensive though

Have you tried the Ezydog harness - they seem quite strong.  I've got one but haven't used it in the car yet.

http://www.dfordog.com/acatalog/ezydog_dog_harness.html