Dog Out of Window

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

I have a question...I recall seeing on somewhere, someplace, and that's as far as my memory goes,...that a dog should not be allowed to put their head out of the window of a moving car.   Why?

Ginger loves it!  She is harnessed in the car and I am not driving 75 miles per hour, just around the town to soccer practice...  She gets her head out and one paw over the window and she looks like she "ridin gansta"

Can someone please let me know why this a dangerous?

Thanks

[Bonnie and Kona]

My concern with dogs' heads out of windows is the danger of a stone hitting them. I have had windshields cracked from stones and cannot imagine what that would do to a dog. Just a safety concern. Kona absolutely will not put his head out of the car window... he's the only dog we've had like that! Owen would love to ride "gangsta", but he is limited to just a little nose poke. ;o)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have read several things, the most common being flying debris from the road coming up and hitting them in the face or eyes. Then ofcourse the scary thought of an accident and they are hanging their head out and totally unprotected. Think of their necks, or if the impact is on the side they are on and if nothing else the glass breaking around them. It can get pretty scary. I don't harness my two in, but they do lay down in the back of the SUV with a grate that seperates the back seats from them so that they can't put their heads out the window and they don't become projectiles if I have an accident. 

I am guilty of allowing them to put their heads out the window when I go for a short short ride to the dog park or store and they sit in the back seat. I know it's not safe....but like you, I love watching them enjoy the wind in their faces.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

i worry too that if you have electric windows the dog will accidentally hit the button and close the window on their head. i always have the back windows locks and cooper sometimes is allowed a little crack to stick her nose out of.

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

good idea about locking the windows!!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

YES!! Great point! They even have door protectors that hang and cover all the gadgets. (cloth ones)

[F, Calla & Luca]

The reasons the others have just stated are the ones most frequent. A dog can easily get debris in his eye or be injured if the car gets too close to something. Even the wind itself can irritate an eye at high speeds.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That wind is not so great for the ears, either, I think.

[F, Calla & Luca]

It might actually do them some good to get ventilation, not that I'd recommend this method.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

 

There are a few reasons not to allow this dangerous practice:

 

Debris getting in eyes

Inhalation of road debris

Something hitting them

The dog seeing something and either jumping out (at 60 mph?) or injuring themselves trying to get out

 

I have posted about this before and can not emphasize enough how dangerous this is.

 

Would you let your child hang their head out the window?  That is your answer to letting your dog hang their head out the window.

[Christine & Shelby]

Debris in the eye is the concern in my mind.... Shelby is an air conditioning girl :)   We both are!

[Angela, Wheeler & Wicket]

We allow Wheeler to on our road only! We live at the top of a mountain & it's about 3 miles to the main road to get down the mountain, & it's all paved. We only allow him out the back seat passenger side in case a car would happen to pass coming the opposite direction. Plus, we are only going about 20-25 mph. Little Wicket is to small yet to actually see, but he raises his nose high to get all the wonderful country smells! Poor Wheeler always is so heart broken when we reach the main road & that window goes up, but it's just to dangerous on a main road, going faster! But, once we reach our road on our way back home, Wheeler starts pacing, "dad, put my window down!" My husby has a big 4 door pickup, so we always have the back seats folded down & that's were the boys always are! When people want a ride, we always tell them our truck is only a 2 seater, the back seat area is set up for the boys only, LOL!

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

i can just picture wicket's little nose!