Would you feel okay putting a dog on the floorboard in the front seat?...

Now that it is finially nice I've been taking the kids to the park in the afternoon. I'd like to take Chuck with us but can't figure out how to make it work since I need to pick up kids from school. I have my 4 and my friend's 2 that I watch.

I have an 8 passenger sienna in the middle row I have a nautilus outboard, radian in the middle. If it is just the girls and myself Chuck sits in the middle row.

After school I need to pick up Benjamin, Daniel, and my friend's 10 year old depending on what after school activities they are doing. Benjamin is in a Monterey in the back, 10 year old in a backless turbo, Daniel in the seat belt. We wouldn't normally have Jacob with us but do this week because he is grounded and has to stay with me. Jacob sits in the front because even with Benjamin and 10 year old in backless boosters it is really crowded in the back row. Jacob is 5 foot 7 and 150 lbs, I'm okay with him in the front.

I can't put Chuck in the back row because I tried that last week and he threw up even with the bonine.

Unless I move one of the girls to the back I have no place to put Chuck. He has a harness so I can make sure he stays on the floorboard.

Thanks!

If Jacob wasn't up front, maybe. I don't like the idea of dog + kid sharing that space in the event of a crash though. Someone's going to get hurt. And it's a big distraction to you.

If he didn't get carsick, I'd say the floor of the hatch. But honestly I think Chuck's going to have to miss out on park-time.

Thanks. It would only be a week before he could come then, assuming Jacob turns in his homework.

Today I didn't have the Samantha (10 year old) so I put Chuck on the front floorboard, Jacob and Benjamin in the back, and Elizabeth, Katie, and Daniel in the middle row. I did not like it! Chuck was freaking out, it was very distracting.

I thought about having the kids go through the back but that would only work if I moved the Monterey to the 60 instead of the 40 and then it couldn't be latched.


I'm going to try sliding Chuck's seat forward and see if the kids can still get to the back. I know Benjamin and Samantha could but I'm not sure about Daniel.

Absolutely. Check out these pet crash tests.

http://wachusett.pssweb.net/Test report pets in cars-1.pdf

My cats only ride in the footwells since I've seen that. The dog I'm dogsitting rides on the front seat in a Pet Buckle. She's too big for the footwell.

Wendy

If it were me I would leave the dog behind as long as he was going to be a distraction. No reason to have a stressed out mom,kids and dog when your going to the park for some good bonding time. Do you have a kennel that you can put in the cargo hold, that might help a bit, that is the only way our dog will go anywhere now.

He's only a distraction when in the front, he doesn't usually freak out in the middle bench. I don't think the cargo area would work since he gets sick in the back bench, he would be likely to get sick back there too. I also had him back there once and it made me very nervous because I know the trunk is part of the crumple zone.

I ordered a pet buckle. Maybe it will be easier to use than the harness I have now and I can take him out to load kids in the van. If not I think moving Benjamin to the 60 and having kids go though the back would be the best bet.

I really don't want to move one of the girls to the back, they like sitting next to each other and I need at least one seat in the middle row so I can drop Elizabeth off at school.

I really want to take him. I can't walk through the neighborhood because the hills hurt my foot so he needs going to the park to get his exercise.

What kind of dog is Chuck and how much does he weigh? I have a 14 lb pug/jack russell mix and have used a few different seats with her.

We started off with a full harness made especially for the car. The neck had extra padding, and the back part had a hook/loop that went around the seatbelt when it was buckled in place. It worked when she was small, but was kind of a pain to use when she had on her regular harness. She'd also slide around on my leather seats.

We also used one of these: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753853

Worked prety nice until she got old enough to start trying to climb out of it. There's a strap in the back of it that clips to the buckle on her harness. I didn't like the fact that all that was holding her was a single strap.

Finally we moved to The Fido Rido, and it needs to be reinstalled in my car now that the weather is nicer and we'll be going to the park more.

http://www.fidorido.com/

I found this the best option for us because our dog despises being in her kennel and listening to her shriek in the car makes you want to rip your eardrums out. It comes with its own harness and each side of the harness attaches to the seat. It provides equal pressure across the dog's body in an accident. The base of the seat itself is tied down using the vehicle seat belt just like a child restraint.

The Fido Rido company also makes a harness for bigger dogs:
http://www.fidorido.com/page/33794204

I prefer having my dog harnessed in the car, versus in a pet carrier. For one, her carrier is too big to fit in the footwells of our car. Having it on the seat, even if I found some way to cinch it down just feels unsafe to me. Yes, she'd be inside the kennel if we were in an accident but she'd be tossed around inside of it.