Crash testing of dog car restraints
Study: Many car restraints for dogs don't prevent harm Pet owners who put their dogs in harnesses during car trips may feel like they are protecting man's best friend, but a new study out of a Rest...
Forum Discussion
Rockhill, I'm in 100% agreement. I firmly believe the best protection you can give a dog is a properly-sized airline crate that is properly secured in the vehicle, but I'd rather see folks use a harness than nothing at all.
I've known had two different friends have bad crashes like the ones you described. In the first, two dogs were in airline crates, two in wire crates. Both of the wire crates broke apart on impact. One dog was thrown from the vehicle and died instantly. The other ran loose and was lost for nearly 48 hours. Both airline crate dogs were sore, but fine.
Next crash was a fellow corgi herding person, returning cross country from our Nationals about 6 years ago. Her van rolled several times. Van was completely totaled, driver suffered whiplash and several bad bruises. All five corgis were completely fine.
Key #1 - properly sized crate. You are not doing Fluffy any favors by giving her a larger crate to stretch out. The less space she has to be thrown around in a crash, the less risk of injury she will have.
Key #2- properly SECURED crate. Just tossing a crate in the back of the SUV might be OK in a little fender-bender, but in a serious crash the whole crate then becomes a projectile. Small crates can often be seat-belted on a bench seat. Larger crates need to be secured to cargo tie-downs or other anchor points on the vehicle. Bungees don't hold as well as most people think. My tie-down of choice is a ratcheting cargo strap. Since our dogs are smaller, their crates fit nicely in the 2nd row passenger area of my minivan. They also fit in the back seat of our quad-cab tow vehicle. Larger dogs have to go in the cargo area of a van or SUV, and may or may not fit in a pickup.
I removed the second row seats from my van. They sit on a shelf in the garage, collecting dust till trade-in time. I kept the 3rd row seats in the vehicle, folded down but available for passengers when needed. These straps hook onto the anchors from those seats.
Final photo shows the crates in the back seat of the Toyota PU. In the photo I had not yet attached the tie-downs, which hook to the base of the seat, loop over the crates, then back down to the seat anchors. The 3rd crate stacks on top of the one on the passenger side, which was why I hadn't attached the straps yet. These are size 200, or Medium crates. I doubt this configuration would work with a bigger crate. In that case, the SleepyPod harness would be the best option for someone with this sort of vehicle.
I've known had two different friends have bad crashes like the ones you described. In the first, two dogs were in airline crates, two in wire crates. Both of the wire crates broke apart on impact. One dog was thrown from the vehicle and died instantly. The other ran loose and was lost for nearly 48 hours. Both airline crate dogs were sore, but fine.
Next crash was a fellow corgi herding person, returning cross country from our Nationals about 6 years ago. Her van rolled several times. Van was completely totaled, driver suffered whiplash and several bad bruises. All five corgis were completely fine.
Key #1 - properly sized crate. You are not doing Fluffy any favors by giving her a larger crate to stretch out. The less space she has to be thrown around in a crash, the less risk of injury she will have.
Key #2- properly SECURED crate. Just tossing a crate in the back of the SUV might be OK in a little fender-bender, but in a serious crash the whole crate then becomes a projectile. Small crates can often be seat-belted on a bench seat. Larger crates need to be secured to cargo tie-downs or other anchor points on the vehicle. Bungees don't hold as well as most people think. My tie-down of choice is a ratcheting cargo strap. Since our dogs are smaller, their crates fit nicely in the 2nd row passenger area of my minivan. They also fit in the back seat of our quad-cab tow vehicle. Larger dogs have to go in the cargo area of a van or SUV, and may or may not fit in a pickup.
I removed the second row seats from my van. They sit on a shelf in the garage, collecting dust till trade-in time. I kept the 3rd row seats in the vehicle, folded down but available for passengers when needed. These straps hook onto the anchors from those seats.
Final photo shows the crates in the back seat of the Toyota PU. In the photo I had not yet attached the tie-downs, which hook to the base of the seat, loop over the crates, then back down to the seat anchors. The 3rd crate stacks on top of the one on the passenger side, which was why I hadn't attached the straps yet. These are size 200, or Medium crates. I doubt this configuration would work with a bigger crate. In that case, the SleepyPod harness would be the best option for someone with this sort of vehicle.
