Dorsetdog - Transporting your pet
When going out, it is important to ensure that the pet is safe, and in an accident will not be propelled out of the car or end up running around in traffic.
Topic quick jumps
When going out, please ensure that you take your dog’s following items with you
poo bags, no responsible dog owner should ever leave home without them as you never know when they might need to go!
Fixed lead
Water bowl and water
The sides of these soft drinking bowls fold down for small dogs, and fold to fit your pocket. The wide mouthed 330ml drink bottle is ideal for easily pouring water back in to after the dog has finished drinking. The whole lot fits easily in to a jacket pocket and is ideal for taking on hot days.
Sun protection
We've all seen the child's sun screens fixed to the side windows of cars, well now you can buy wide ones to fit on to the back window of the car. The one shown is fixed with electrical insulation tape, due to the supplied suckers failing.
It is also important to protect your dog from hot direct sunlight whilst they travel in the car.
It is important that you never leave your dog in a car on hot or bright sunny days.
Transport methods
There are various ways of transporting your pet in the car.
They should not be allowed to roam around the car, sit on the driver's lap, or on the back window shelf.
Should an accident occur the dog could be thrown through the windscreen, or collide with the head of someone sat in the front seat.
It should be remembered that if your dog is in the car boot and someone drives into the back of you, then the dog could be injured when the rear crumples in.
The harness is one option, but in the event of a roll over then the dog could be left hanging upside down.
The downside of the harness is that
a) The harness can be pulled down by the seat belt and cut in to the dog's leg
b) If used on the front passenger seat, the dog is forced towards the driver
Soft crate
The soft crate is another option, but it is said that as the frame is designed to fold down, the connector that joins the top bars together is not strong enough to withstand an accident with a seatbelt around the crate.
Air crates
Air crates are designed to be used on aircraft, and some makes can apparently withstand substantial impacts without losing shape.
Wire crates
Wire crates are normally placed in the car's boot. In the event of a rear end shunt, it would be the dog's cage that gets crushed first.
Remember that the boot/trunk of a car is outside of the designed passenger safety zone.
With a wire crate in the boot, in the event of a rear shunt there is the possibility of the cage bars breaking and the dog being injured on sharp ends.
In the event of a rollover, there is the possibility of the dog's leg or legs falling through the bars of the crate and being snapped against the car's interior.
Pet tube
Really disappointed with PetEgo's Customer service. I contacted them about my 2 year old Pet Tube, to advise that the wire spiral had worn through the sleeving. It has also cut into the car seat.
I was initially fobbed off with a comment that no one else had reported any problem. I stressed that my dogs rarely travel in the car, and this is clearly a material quality issue. I was advised that my email would be sent to the designer and owner of Petego.
I have had no response to email, Facebook or Twitter communications
Pet Tube appears to be one of the safest ways to transport your pets
The pet tube comes in 2 sizes.
Straps are sewn in to the tube which secure the tube to the seat.
In the event of a rollover the dog would still be safe in the tube, even if it was hanging upside down.
These photos show the large model, which has been reduced to the half length by using the Velcro tabs fitted
Note - If the seat back of your car is high then one might have problems securing the Pet Tube, and you might have to also use the fitted seat belts. In these photos, the front passenger seat helps to hold the tube in place
Official Pet Tube photos follow
The mesh allows the pet to see out whilst restricting the sun's heat.
The tube can be taken out of the car and used to shade the dog during a picnic or event.
The Large Pet tube can be reduced in length to free up passenger seating
The Small Pet Tube fits neatly on to the front passenger seat. Both sizes can be quickly folded away.
The Dog bag
The Dog Bag comes in 4 sizes.
This is the small one 24 inches by 24 inches (600 x 600 mm)
Straps are sewn in to the bag's corners which secure the bag to the hooks in the corner of the car's luggage area.
Three sides of the bag have two loops for the seat securing straps, so the bag can be secured on a seat or in the boot/luggage area.
In the event of a rollover the dog would still be safe in the bag, even if it was hanging upside down. And as the bag is soft then there would be no risk of metal bars protruding in the event of a rear shunt
Do you transport your beloved dog in the boot of the car?
Consider this
