I just witnessed the number 1 reason to buckle or secure your dog in your vehicle. As I pulled into my apartment parking lot I noticed something going around the back tires of the truck just ahead of me. At first I thought it was just a bag. Then to my utter disbelief I realized it was an animal. It was in fact the truck owners own dog. She died right in front of us. Thankfully she went very quickly.
This dog had been so excited to be home that she jumped out the window as they were driving. Had the dog been secured in some manner, be it in a crate or a harness and seatbelt tether or doggy carseat, her owners would be having a very different night. (I don’t know if she was on a leash and just slipped her collar, as she wasn’t wearing one when we got to her.) Instead they are grieving the loss of their first dog.
It is the law in some states that your pets be secured in some manner while you are driving. They can be a distraction, get in they way of you seeing or under your feet, or become a projectile in an accident. And should you be in an accident and they are loose, they may run off or cause other problems. I don’t care how good your dog is or how well it’s trained, dogs can be unpredictable.
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| Cooper in his carseat and harness. |
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| Cooper and Bailey in their carseat looking out the window. They are both tethered to the carseat and that's as far as they can go. |
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| Notice that the seatbelt runs thru the carseat. There's a loop under the cushion that the seatbelt goes through and there's a metal ring attached to that that the tethers attach to. |
We use the EzyDog Chest Plate Harness and the K&H Bucket Booster carseat. And we also have 2 of the simple tethers that buckle into the seatbelt receptacle if we don't have the carseat with us. There are many other options out there.
Oddly enough, all the articles about buckling your dog, don't mention this as a reason to do it.
