Bringing puppy home - Car safety harness and parvo

[Katherine]

Hi,

I'm picking up my puppy in two weeks. Ahhh, so excited - can't wait!

The breeder is an 8 hour drive away, so I'm really keen on ensuring the home trip is as positive and safe as possible.

I'll be the only person on the drive, and I'll be keen to have her near me so I can see when she's upset or if she gets restless or unwell. So a crate in the back of the car is not something I'm considering.

My plan had been to build up the foot space on the passenger seat, insert a dog bed and secure the puppy with the best car harness. As always I googled this, and came across one comment that puppies are too young to use a car safety harness, and that they should be transported in crates. To me that seems odd - seems they would be and feel safer with a harness rather than slip-sliding around in a crate.

Would love to hear what you guys think.

The other thing I'd like input on is rest stops. She will be on her way to being potty trained, so the breeder says I probably only need to stop once, after 4 hours on the way home. Of course, more frequent stops reduces risk of an accident (and potential house training set-back) but increases risk of Parvo exposure. I think I'll probably land on stopping twice. Views?  More importantly, I keep trying to think of a good way to think of places to stop that have the lowest risk of Parvo exposure - something I can search for on a map or spot from the motorway, as I'm not familiar with the area. Shopping Mall parking area (of course not in front of Pet Smart)? A beach? Random roadside on a small rural side road? What is the one place where a dog can pee that is least likely to have ben visited by dogs or Parvo carrying wildlife? 

[Julie and Charlie]

I recommend the crate, but also being prepared with another option. Being that small, and that young, she could have her own ideas about where she wants to be on the trip, and you won't be able to argue with her because you need to drive! 

Charlie howled the whole way home (thankfully it was only 20 minutes!), but it was the longest 20 minutes of my life. 

[Katherine]

Thanks for your reply.

Oh, must have been a heartbreaking 20 mins.

If I go for a crate I assume the best would be a small one so she can't fly too far if I do an emergency break. How would you stop the slip-sliding? My current dog had to be in a crate when I brought her home - one of those with a thin mattress and plastic bottom. Every turn or stop she would extend her claws, and rather than helping her break it just reminded me of Bambi on the ice. It stressed her a lot.

If I take her in a harness my plan had been that I would lock the seat belt (so it doesn't extend), and have a cardboard partition so I can extend a hand to her, but she can't come over to me.

[kristine & Auggie]

I am glad this has come up because we pick our puppy up next Tue. and I am making the same plans.  Our breeder is 5 hours away and I will have my husband along so that will help.  Potty breaks are a concern.  I am thinking about taking some Wee Wee pads to use so  he won't actually be  standing on the grass. I have a harness and hopefully it will fit.  If I was going by myself I would get a small soft carrier and put it on the floor of the passenger side.

Good luck and I know how excited you must be because I sure am.

[Katherine]

Great ideas. I'll check with the breeder if they've been using weewee pads. By the way, both my vet and the breeder strongly recommended not having potty breaks at gas stations and rest stops - thought I'd pass that on. Mind you, I'll be driving from Alabama to Texas - two of the worst states for Parvo, and zero snow.

Like the idea of the soft carrier on the passenger side floor. Could then also secure it to the passenger seat base so it cant shift about.

Oh, yes, I am soooo excited. Impatiently so at this stage. Wish I were a toddler so I could stomp my feet and shout "I WANT IT NOW!!"

[Katherine]

Hey, are you getting a parti doodle too?! We had to shortlist two puppies, and both of them are parti.

[Kathy, Atticus, and Kylie]

I only had a 30 minute drive when bringing my puppy home, but I used a safety vest harness that had a loop on the back for the shoulder belt to slide through and allowed him to sit or lie down securely on the passenger seat beside me so I could pet him if necessary but restricted his movement (be sure to turn off the passenger air bag if you do this). My vet advised me to keep my puppy on concrete surfaces in public places and away from dog traffic areas until he was fully vaccinated, she said that parvovirus thrives in grass and dirt, but has trouble surviving on concrete. Enjoy your new puppy, mine just turned 5 months and is such a joy!

[kristine & Auggie]

Good to know about the concrete as  oppossed to the grass.  I will try the harness if it isn't too big. If the harness works why don't you just use it in the front seat next to you ?  It is just hard to know how big they will be when they are picked up.

I guess our puppy might be a parti, he has two colors, does that count?  I just know he is really cute.  What color is your puppy ?  I too am so excited, I can't wait either.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

If you do decide to put the puppy in the front seat next to you and you have a passenger seat airbag, you'll want to disable it if that's an option on your car. I'd have safety concerns if that weren't an option. We always put the doods in the backseat while on rides with their harnesses and safety belts (that click into the seat belt mechanism) and use a hammock style seat cover that keeps them from sliding into the foot well or the front console (which happened a LOT before the hammock). For both Lucy and Oscar, the ride home from the breeder was only 45 minutes, and I held them both while my husband drove (I sat in the backseat with Lucy, the front with Oscar). Neither had any problems, but it was a relatively short ride.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I just noticed Kathy already mentioned the air bag. I guess I should read every post first before commenting :)

[Katherine]

Thanks for the reply and tips. My breeder recommends the Clix Car Harness, and sells it through her kennel store. It looks very good to me, and is secured in a similar manner to what you describe. Think I'll try using that, but bring along a soft carrier as a back-up. I'll ask the trainer at the breeder to get my puppy used to the harness  - and she's already being crate trained. 

Thanks ever so much for passing on the info from your vet. Shopping malls look increasingly attractive as my venue of choice for potty breaks. :-) My reasoning is that people are less likely to bring their dogs to shopping malls (as long as it doesn't have Pet Smart or similar), and the advice from your vet makes these places even more attractive.

I've really appreciated all the advice on-line about what not to do with a puppy to protect it from parvo, but increasingly miss info in what you can do. Like where they can go potty. Or if you have a friend who has a dog who you know is vaccinated, can you have them over? Can vaccinated dogs be carriers? I think socialization is so important for a dog, that I really don't want to wait until she's 4 months old before we start.

[Katherine]

Oh, forgot to ask, did you feel an extra small harness sat well on your puppy? No risk of tangling or breaking loose?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

With our Fudge, we drove 600 miles home. Luckily, I had my DD with me. I drive a van and we put a bed on the area between my seat and the passenger seat and Fudge stayed there almost the whole ride. She was just great. We stopped at a few places....park, store parking lot, one rest stop, etc.  along the way and went as far away from the frequented areas as we could. I drove 400 miles with Vern, but had a friend along and did much the same as we did with Fudge. They make all kinds of dog car seats. Check Amazon. Here is just one.

http://www.amazon.com/Solvit-Tagalong-On-Seat-Booster-Standard/dp/B...

I am sure something like this is much safer than the way I brought my pups home. Good luck!