3 across and a dog help please

My dog typically rides in the front passenger seat with his harness on and the kids ride in the back seat. We are going out of town this weekend and I must take my dog with me. I will have 3 children and I will have a friend with me in the front passenger seat. What am I suppose to do?

I'm thinking my only option is to put my dog (25lbs) on the floor board behind my rear facing seats so if there is an accident at least he's semi-contained. I currently have a Truefit rf, radian rf center, Parkway sg. He doesn't mind riding on the floor board (it's actually his preferred spot and when I got him his harness he was really upset with me). I just don't think this is very safe. It also helps that the radian is tethered behind the passenger seat so I don't have to worry about my stupid dog chewing the radian strap if I do end up doing this.

Also, no I can't board my dog nor can anyone watch him. We all must go! I don't have use of my van right now as it will be loaned out to a friend who is watching 2 of my foster kids for me while we go out of town. They are very medically fragile and where we are going there isn't a good hospital nearby. She needs the van because she has 3 kids of her own and needs a way to transport all of them.

The floor is fine. In a collision he will be well contained and won't harm the others. I actually saw a video once of a crash test with paper bags of groceries right behind the front seats. The food came up, and then fell back into the bag (does anyone have this video??). That was it. The bags stayed upright, the food was tossed about in the bags, but it was still in there.

Wendy

My dogs ride in the floor all the time. They (pet buckle) sells a strap that's designed to snap onto the harness and attach to a LATCH anchor. I attach it to a D-ring around the seat track.

only thing to be careful of... carsickness... for the dog.

anytime our male dog rides on the floorboards, he gets sick after.

our female doesn't, but she's taller and when she sits, she can see out the windows... Poor Cooter.. his stubby legs just don't make that possible.

My dog is very much use to traveling. When the kids aren't with me he rides on the floor by choice. He's never gotten sick. He doesn't even care to look out the window unless he is just sort of checking out where we are and then he goes right back to sleep on the floor.

I just tried his small pet cage (aka a large cat cage) that is plastic and it does fit back there if I get rid of the rear facing tether for the Radian. I'm uncomfortable doing so because I have a 37lb 3.5 year old child in that seat. So, do you think it's better to have him in the crate on the floor or is he ok on the floor un restrained? Basically which would be safer?

Also the petbuckle doesn't fit him correctly, he can slip out of it! He will actually bark and growl at me when I try to put that thing on him! I have a Four Paws Safety Seat Support Harness for him instead. He just doesn't have "shoulders" per say and the petbuckle just slides right off him.

We use a ruffrider for our dog. He wouldn't fit on the floorboard but when we still had a smaller dog and didn't have enough seating positions in our old vehicle, we used some climbing gear that was weighted for high weights to connect him to the unmoveable leg of the seat.