Dog Car Seat Failure.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Jack and I just had the scare of both of our lives. We were driving to do some errands, Jack was in the backseat in his booster seat that sits in the center of the back of my car. The booster seat was seat belted in and he was attached by harness to the booster seat.

 I have a Honda CRV. We were on a back road.. I was going about 45-50 mph. The person in front of me slammed on their brakes as a response to the car in front of them. I slammed on my brakes and Jack who was in a booster seat.. went flying like a 10 pound sack of potatoes up against my windshield of my car..he hit it full force and then was thrown under the dash board of the passenger side car....the little strap that was from the booster seat completely came out from the seam of the booster seat right where it was sewn in... When I say it didn't even slow Jack down, I am serious, it was as if it was not secured at all but rather tucked in. 

I immediately got out of the car...and Jack was knocked out.... I picked him up and he started panting really heavy... He didn't yelp or anything just panted heavy...He was only out for what I would guess less then a minute..

My vet was the closest place to bring him.... they took him right back, he has concussion but other then that he is okay. He has thrown up a few times. I have to check his pupils every hour or so to make sure they are responded right and if not I need to bring him to emergency...

Right now he seems okay, just nervous.. (who wouldn't be if they were just smashed into a windshield) My vet said to get rid of the booster seat totally, to write a letter to the company of the booster seat and to try a different means of strapping him in. The more high up they are the more likely they are to be ejected.....also because he was in the center, which I assumed was the safest afterall that is where we they tell you to put babies, he didn't even have a seat to slow him down or to brace him.

I still can't believe what I saw with my eyes... I am sure he is fine but please learn from us, we were not even on a major highway like we usually are where the speed limit is 70MPH just a country back road.... Please find safe measures to keep your baby from being ejected, had he weighed more, no doubt, he would have broken my windshield and who knows what would have happen to him, Please don't wait till it happens to you....I think he is going to be just fine, but I will never trust another dog carseat..

THe other harness that you can buy that strap to the carseat without the booster are too long and they will leave Jack hanging if I stopped short.. which I suppose is better then the windshield but I would like an even better more safe way. Jack is almost always in the car with me, it is rare that he isn't.. I seriously am going to see if he will tolerate a regular kids carseat.. I don't know about him sitting like that though if he will stay.. 

I read on here not that long ago, but a while ago, someone else making a plea to make sure your dogs were for sure safe in a car.. I didn't listen I just assumed...

Again, Jack is fine minus a concussion but seeing something you love so much thrown up against a windshield  knowing that they fully rely on you to keep them safe made me feel like an epic failure.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Oh my Jennifer what a frightening experience and just reading it gave me chills.  To see your dog go flying past you to the window just scares me to death.  It is amazing he was not hurt more seriously.  Thank goodness he is doing ok and I'm sure the concussion will heal fast.  Paw hugs and kisses to Jack from Libby and hopefully Mom you are doing ok too.  I am so sorry you had to go through such a scary ordeal.

[Jennifer and Jack]

That is what the vet said too, especially since it knocked him out.....She thinks just like with humans he may be sore tomorrow and if so we will give him medication as needed but he seems fine, just a nervous tummy.  As scary as it is, I think we all need to picture are dogs hitting a windshield, if they are not properly strapped in and I am not talking about the piece of junk I was using, them hitting a windshield is a very real possibility ...

Unless of course you are my mother, who's response to me when I told her with have to pull Molly out of the booster was " I drive better then you" true story.. Good thing she was two hours away and that I love her. Considering she can't dive at night at all and I have never been in a car accident knock wood.

[Diana Erhart]

After my daughter was in a car wreck with her little Maltese with her (who even though was not in a restraint had no injuries, thank you volvo!) someone sent me these links.  Kind of scary.  These are from 2011 so not sure if anything more has been done to research this.  I was considering contacting them to see if there are any updates or what has happened with their research.

This is the original article:  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012petsafety/06pilotstudy/prweb96127...

This is the place that did/does research;  http://centerforpetsafety.org/research/

[F, Calla & Luca]

I I hope you find some updates.

[Jennifer and Jack]

This actually made me sick. What makes me really sick is that some of these that were 100 percent fail and even the one that lead to a partial decapitation claimed they were tested. .....

Watching those videos made me sick.

[Kimberly Keenan]

Hope Jack is doing better! I'll keep him in my thoughts & prayers!

[BG and Gavin]

Okay not the best pic of dear Gavin, but it shows how he is hooked in.  A regular, high quality and very sturdy dog harness.  It clips  on his back and has two metal rings which are well reinforced.  A regular coupler which you would use if you wanted to walk two dogs.  The coupler has a swivel snap on each end.  It goes around the shoulder belt (which is not buckled into the seat) and the snaps hook onto the two rings on the back of the harness.  EVEN though the seat belt is not clipped to the seat, it still locks tight when sudden pressure is put on it.  Again it restrained him last fall when we had to suddenly break and swerve to avoid and accident.  This picture is the back seat of the truck.

[BG and Gavin]

Here is Gavin rigged the same in the back seat of the truck but sitting up and looking out the window:

[Jennifer and Jack]

that picture is adorable

[Jennifer and Jack]

That looks great..  Thank you for sharing

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We bought something similar like this for Luna yesterday :)  We haven't tried it yet, but we are going to attach her in the trunk (we have a hatchback - she has always ridden back there).  

[Christine & Camus]

I'm glad that both of you are okay.  I also have plastic encased cable that hooks to the child seat attachment and to Camus' harness with swivel hooks.  Each end is covered with vet wrap so that it does not bother Camus or the leather seat.  Had it put together at Home Depot so it is the perfect length.  I have had to stop short on a couple of occasions and it works well.