Dog's travel in car on top of car hauler

I personally think if we could ask our dogs "I need to move you with me, but the trip won't be easy or comfy. Or I could re-home you. Which would you prefer?"

I know every dog I've ever owned would answer "Do whatever it takes - I HAVE to be with you". Even my own dogs, this past week, were forced to ride for an hour in pretty cramped conditions while we moved some furniture. They survived ;-)

Like I said I did not know any of these people just offered my help as an Rv driver to get the uhaul truck back since the driver of it left in his car and was not involved in unloading.

I have to state here, although my shock of standing there and being told the dogs were on the hauler, is still a vivid feeling........
these 2 dogs looked no worse for the ware. They were not panting nor did they have that look of 'oh my god' in their eyes. They calmly got out of the car as is to say Hi, how you'all doin?

We walked them and then they went into the back seat of another car driven by a stranger to them and they just jumped in and calmly laid down and went to sleep for the ride to the storage lockers.

I personally crate for safety period. No animal rides in any of my vehicles without being crated. That is simply 'my' rules.

The only really unsafe thing IMHO about this trip was these dogs were not crated so if an incident would have arisen on the road they could have been thrown around and/or out the window.

NOT ALL DOGS would have been capable of a ride like this. For me I was just VERY thankful to see that these 2 dogs were very capable of handling the situation.

We all know there are dogs that just go with the flow and of course there are the dogs that just the slightest bit of change throws them into insane frenzy. Again I am so very glad that was not the case with these two dogs. :C

Lots of speculation.

Not enough information.

Oh my, I wouldn't do that to my dogs. Talk about trauma, I know for sure they would never ride in a car again.
When I read this it reminded me of National Lampoon's Vacation, Aunt Edna Passes

toedtoes wrote:
The dogs should have been the first consideration when figuring out where to put things, not the last.

I agree

BCSnob wrote:
I have no issues with the attitude of wanting to be with ones animals during transportation (that is our preference); however, I find no fault in transporting pets in other spaces than where I am traveling because I KNOW (as do humane societies, rescue organizations, etc) it can be done safely. Pets are safely transported in trailers all the time. The car on the car hauler provided better rollover protection than most mobile adoption trailers used by humane societies. My biggest issue would be if the pets were in secured crates. The rest of it will be personal preference, attitudes on pets, and the temperaments of individual pets (some have rock stable temperaments others are more sensitive).

I agree it can be done safely. But again this was not an "I need to find a way to get the dogs from here to there in the safest manner possible". There apparently wasn't a thought about the welfare of the animals, just a "oh, I filled up my car with stuff, let's put the dogs in the car on the trailer". The dogs should have been the first consideration when figuring out where to put things, not the last.

Someone claimed that she could have put her stuff in the car on the hauler and her pets in her car. How do you know? Do you know the weight of the her stuff (compared to her pets) and how close the load in the truck, trailer, and car were to the GVWR of the UHaul truck?

All of this just confirms my preconceived notions.

I have no issues with the attitude of wanting to be with ones animals during transportation (that is our preference); however, I find no fault in transporting pets in other spaces than where I am traveling because I KNOW (as do humane societies, rescue organizations, etc) it can be done safely. Pets are safely transported in trailers all the time. The car on the car hauler provided better rollover protection than most mobile adoption trailers used by humane societies. My biggest issue would be if the pets were in secured crates. The rest of it will be personal preference, attitudes on pets, and the temperaments of individual pets (some have rock stable temperaments others are more sensitive).

BCSnob - I have been in a vehicle with multiple dog crates. But I was also IN the vehicle with multiple dog crates. I was there to provide comfort to the animals during the ride. I was there to observe the dogs for signs of distress. I was there to make sure nothing bad happened to the dogs.

That is my biggest issue here. The dogs were placed in a situation which was not their familiar "ride in the car" AND which there was no one to observe how they were handling the situation, to help keep them calm, etc.

I would never put my dogs in an unfamiliar situation on their own like that. Had it been an emergency situation for a short duration, it would be one thing. But for a long distance trip like that - NO WAY.

I will also add that the time my dog had to ride in the back of a truck, I rode in the back of the truck with her. And years ago, I broke my tailbone riding in the back of a truck - so trust me, I know what it's like to ride back there.