Car Travel Safety

Mountain biking outside of McCall, Idaho in '05.

Several years ago, my husband and I were mountain biking outside McCall, Idaho. The trails were gorgeous, the weather superb and the three of us (my husband, myself and our dog, Lucy) were having a wonderful ride until we met up with a young couple and their three legged border collie. They were also enjoying the area, but when we learned why the dog was missing one leg, my mood changed. Their dog fell out of the back of their pickup truck and was hit. Luckily the dog survived, but I am continuously flabbergasted when I see dogs unrestrained in cars, let alone loose in the back of a truck. What are these people thinking? Obviously not about their dog!

I used to own a Honda Civic hatchback (great little car) and initially kept my dog in the way back. At some point I had the awful thought of what might become of her if I was rear-ended. She then road in the back seat in a harness/leash/seat belt contraption.

Since then, all of our dogs have worn a harness attached to a short 18" leash. The seat belt passes through the handle and then into its buckle. I have looked at other harness mechanisms and at this point lean towards Ruff Rider's seat belt as I like the design, padding and chest criss-cross. It's not very expensive and has received lots of lauds yet suffers the same drawback as my present system. If the dog can step on the buckle, they can release the belt. Bella seems quite adept at this even though the buckle to hard to reach.

Periodically I revisit this issue to see if anything better has come along. Part of my recent research was because of an article in the May issue of Bark Magazine regarding traveling with your favorite four-legged friends. The article doesn't critique belts though and I wish it did. Recently I've seen several references to the downside of crating your dog in the car. Each time they refer to a German study. Here are some short videos from About.com that are horrifying even though they are testing with dummies (human and canine).

After looking at the video and the Ruff Rider harness...and then at my homemade, jerry-rigged setup, I think I'll be purchasing a real doggie car harness!

Bella's seat belt from in front and from behind.