Finally Car Safety Compliant

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

I am embarassed to say I have never buckled in my two doodles in the back of our SUV's. They have a metal divider up that keeps them in the back and from becoming projectiles should there be an accident, but that has always still made us uncomfortable. It seemed like the few car rides, a few miles around town just didn't warrant harnesses. Yes, I know what you are all thinking.....STUPID, STUPID, STUPID DOODLE MOMMY. 

Well since we have purchased a vacation cabin about 100 miles away, a 2 hour drive, and we now go with them at least once or twice a week. And after one trip we both looked at eachother and said 'This is not safe AT ALL".  THoughts of an accident and them escaping, harmed, running into the mountains, alone, was my first concern, besides the worst outcome,, of course, being they are killed in an accident due to our negligence.

We purchased two harnesses, not knowing what to expect as they have never been restrained. They  snuggly fit and attached to the seatbelts pretty easily. Neither one seemed to care, I think because they still wear gentle walker harness around their chests when walking? 

Murphy settled right in, layed down and just snoozed the whole ride. Bella being a little more of a nosey body and exciteable when it comes to car rides, just sat up looking out the windows the whole time. 

Our usual car sickness still happened with Bella, and I was hoping the extra snuggness of the harness would help that, but no. I researched on DK and called My Vet, who suggested Dramamine and we gave her the first dose yesterday morning and SUCCESS!     No vomiting at all. And on the way home she actually laid down and rested. A first for her! 

So once again, due to DK, my doodles are safer and I continue to be a more educated and responsible dog owner.

The picture is of them at the cabin, helping us choose wood flooring. lol

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Good for you!  Enjoy that new cabin.  It sounds like so much fun for you and the doodles!

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

Thank you Linda. And of course ALL the grandbabies will enjoy it too. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Doggie Dan talked about putting a cover over them in the car if they get car sick as it keeps them from the visual aspect of things going by.  So, if she will lay down, maybe just cover her up and she wouldn't even need the Dramamine.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Wishing you many happy and safe journeys! 

[BG and Gavin]

This is very good news Sue.

a) because as you may or may not remember, I am a huge advocate of belting in our dogs

and b) because now that you have a new cabin, you can join my group Cottage Doodles group and share all your pics and camping/cabin/cottage stories!  http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/cottagedoodles

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Enjoy your cabin. 

 

[Stella]

My big LD travels unrestrained in the trunk of my SUV.  His a very calm boy who lies down and sleeps in the car so I have never worried about restraining him for that reason.  I do worry though about getting rear ended and him getting injured, or the door popping open and him getting loose.  He is a big boy and his crate is way too large to fit into the car, so that isn't an option.  I did wonder about getting him a harness and attaching it to one of the tie-down clips back there.  My other LD travels on the back seat, he is a harness Houdini.  I have tried three different harnesses and he has got out of all of them one way or another, either by managing to pull the harness off or by chewing through the seatbelt to get loose (I was not happy about that one!!).  He is also a squirly boy and if I do get the harness to stay on he gets himself all twisted and tangled up, leading to him panicking (and chewing through the seatbelt to get loose) and me having to do an emergency pull over to release him.  So, I have to admit I gave up on harnessing him - bad bad doodle mommy!!  If anyone has any suggestions for either of my boys I'd gladly listen.

[Deborah Brown]

I have a divider on the back seat headrests and a gate at the back of my SUV.  They are crash tested and hopefully will give our doodles protection.  The gate also keeps them from jumping out as the hatch is going up.  We tried to get the variocrate for our doods but I couldn't fit three in despite having a pretty big dog car now.

I think being in a crash tested crate is the very best way to go but we all have to do what works for us.

http://www.4x4northamerica.com/mim-variogate.php

http://www.4x4northamerica.com/trafficguard.php

[Stella]

Wow, I like the look of those! Their crate looks awesome, but I dread to think what shipping to Canada would be!! I also like the look of the harness, the attachment spins which might help to stop my other LD from getting so twisted up!! Definitely worth thinking about.

[Deborah Brown]

I think shipping was free for me but the Variogate and Variocrate are very expensive so shipping is the least of your worries.  The agility store, cleanrun.com carries these and also www.campdogwood.com is a distributor.

In my case, I had bought a new car, a Toyota Highlander, for my dogs so buying the extra equipment to keep them safe was just part of the package.

[Stella]

I just emailed them and had a reply within 10 minutes - pretty good for a Saturday evening!! They have a distributor in Canada that is 45 minutes away which means I could go pick it up!!

[Deborah Brown]

Putting the crates/gates together and installation is a pain.  The instructions are confusing and all diagrams.  If you go to the distributor, have them do the installation for you.