Securing a puppy dog safely...

I wasn't sure where to put this cuz it doesn't apply to car seats but another post made me curious...

Is it safe to crate a dog in a vehicle? And how do I go about doing it? In the past I've used a metal collapsable crate (not the ones that collapses easily it had the drop pin corners). I still have this crate and what I'd done was use tie downs to seccure it in place... I didn't know if it was safe or not so after a couple of times in the car decided to scrap the idea and went with a seat belt style harness.

Probably Car Safety

There's been some posts on this topic in the past. I'm pretty sure if you do a search, you'll find some of them.

Restraining your pet, IMO, serves a few purposes. In a minor collision or abrupt maneuvering, it may help keep your pet from being seriously injured, or thrown off the seat, or into a (human) passenger. In a more severe collision, it's not so much about protecting your pet (though being contained in the vehicle does give them a safety advantange over being thrown out). It becomes more about preventing your pet from being a projectile and hurting the humans. Also, having an unrestrained, frightened animal can delay rescuers from helping the people. Rescuers will be hesitant to approach with a frightened animal in the vehicle. If the pet is restrained, rescuers can do their first job first, which is take care of the people. Also, an unrestrained pet who somehow makes it through a major crash relatively unharmed may be hit by traffic if the pet gets out of the vehicle.

I'm satisfied with a crate, particularly if it's in the cargo area, braced against the seatback, and tied down. There are various harnesses, some which are strong enough only to help hold the pet in abrupt maneuvers, but not strong enough for crash forces, particularly for a bigger dog like in your siggy. There are some that are made out of real seatbelt webbing, and that is what is on its way to my house for my dog. DH and I both drive sedans, so no crates in the cargo area for us. When he was a puppy, 10 pounds and under, and I had no human passengers, my dog rode in a plastic crate in the back seat, seatbelted in.

I prefer an airline approved plastic crate. I also prefer them to be anchored down with a rachet strap or other method. This protects the dog and the humans in the car. I am on a dog training board and we have a thread about crates going right now, and a vet on that thread said he recently treated 2 dogs who were in crates that were thrown from a truck going down the freeway at 70 mph. Neither dog received any injuries, and the crates were scarred up, but still in tact.

As she is right now she rides on the floor board between the front seats and rear seats. The cargo area scares me because it's so small and I fear what would happen to it if we were rear-ended. To be completely honest I don't know what to do for her.

We're considering a mini-van right now and with only 2 kids I figured we could colapse the 3rd row and set up her crate there... far enough from the rear to make me feel better Another option would be one child in a captains chair, other chair removed, crate in that position and 2nd child center of third row. Does anyone know which van's have a top tether center 3rd row?? Would I be able to install one?

We use a wire/show crate for our 85lb lab in my Ody. There are no tiedowns and the TT for the 3rd row is unusable when the 3rd row is stowed. So, it just sits there.

My DH made a platform for friends with an Ody (to level the cargo area when the 3rd row is stowed) and they bolted their dogs' crates to the platform.

If we were using a crate in a pickup truck, I'd definitely use our airline/plastic crate. But, its too heavy/awkward for me to put in my van by myself and I can do the wire one myself.

Will the rescue people on scene touch/help her!?!

I'm putting to much thought into this... if she had injuries would they take care of her at all??

WhatAboutPuppy said:

Will the rescue people on scene touch/help her!?!

I'm putting to much thought into this... if she had injuries would they take care of her at all??

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My guess is they would call animal control and have her taken to a vet. Their responsibility is the humans, and chances are a hurt doggy would put them in danger and hinder their ability to take care of the passengers.

Yeah, here they call animal control. But, fingers crossed, some kindly fireperson would help out our dog (see Avatar).

I try not to think about it.

You're dog is adorable!!! And I know from previous experience with my seizure pup... she can be all sorta of disoriented and scared and hurt and exhausted and is harmless... maybe I could get it tatooed to her head!!!
I'll stick with trying not to think about it. In all honesty I completely understand them not touching her but still!! lol I know a couple officers in my local PD and have hoped if something bad happens that they're on duty/respond/remember my puppy and help her! lol

Ok, I think I'm going to see if I can fit either of her crates in the cargo area of my Element but to be honest I don't see it happening. Given the recline of the back seats for the car seats and the narrowness anyway. Which is safer, having her unrestrained in the cargo area or having her unrestrained laying down between the first and back row?
Could I use a harness style seat retraint with her, a d-ring teather loopy thing around one of the pieces the back seats lock into on the ground (Element remember) and clip it on there?? Does that make any sense??

I have dealt with one dog on scene. We asked for a contact for the dog and we waited. We were about to leave, when the contact showed up. if she hadn't, I planned to take in the dog. Usually, this is not the case, of course.

Judi said:

I have dealt with one dog on scene. We asked for a contact for the dog and we waited. We were about to leave, when the contact showed up. if she hadn't, I planned to take in the dog. Usually, this is not the case, of course.

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Oh GOSH!! I'm picturing all the scenarios now where I wouldn't be able to protect her!! I guess that's why making sure I sit properly, far enough from the air bag, belt snug, blah blah blah comes into play. Which, I DO! But still... If I'm conscious I can at least fight! Sigh... I'm a spaz!

WhatAboutPuppy said:

Sigh... I'm a spaz!

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Yep, that is why I like you.

Google "IMMI PetBuckle" (IMMI makes LATCH & emergency vehicle restraint systems) -- they have a few different options for preventing the dog from becoming a risk to the human occupants during a crash....

I prefer a harness that buckles in with the seatbelt or that can be hooked to tether anchors or onto nonmoving vehicle seat legs with a locking karibiner (ours has a weight limit which keeps rock climbers of 200# pounds safe when they fall off a mountain, supposedly about 1000# of actual weight resistance). Because my minivan TAs were always used by carseats, I myself usually put my parents' the dogs in the front: 1 on the passenger seat & 1 on the floor.

The "right" or "best" solution is going to varry depening on the dog, the vehicle, etc. Since I don't own my own car & my friend with 2 dogs usually gives us a ride, I'm getting her the PetBuckle harnesses & my doggy has the Ruff Rider Roadie. Our other friend is bigger than me so she sits up front & I sit in back with the kids -- mine in the Monterey (backless) outboard, preschooler in Laptop center with lap belt. The 3 doggies are going to be locked to the legs under the SUV's backseat legs. My friend already keeps travel bowls & doggy toys under the backseat bench although her dogs currently jump all over the vehicle: luckilly she's very much wants the harnesses after I showed her IMMI's crash test video :thumbsup: (even together we can't afford a reliable cargo barrier, but her trunk usually just has random loose clothes in it, save for the cleaning supplies she keeps bungeed down with the cargo hooks & I taught her to push the groceries all the way against the seatback)

Years ago when I worked at a vet clinic, we had a couple of situations where we had dogs brought to us by rescue personnel after being in crashes with their owners, and the owners were too injured to do anything about the dog. Both times, the dogs were already our clients, and had our clinic's phone number on their tags. I'm not sure who transported the dogs, if it was the rescue folks or if our clinic sent someone to get them, but in any case, we took them in because they were established clients.

In one case, both owners were killed in the crash , so we kept the dog at no charge until the relatives could decide what to with him.

Defrost said:

Years ago when I worked at a vet clinic, we had a couple of situations where we had dogs brought to us by rescue personnel after being in crashes with their owners, and the owners were too injured to do anything about the dog. Both times, the dogs were already our clients, and had our clinic's phone number on their tags. I'm not sure who transported the dogs, if it was the rescue folks or if our clinic sent someone to get them, but in any case, we took them in because they were established clients.

In one case, both owners were killed in the crash , so we kept the dog at no charge until the relatives could decide what to with him.

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Hmm. I have my ID tag and the town license tag on Chaos, but we lost the vet's rabies tag. I wasn't worried about it, since we have the rabies certificate and the other 2 ID tags. I didn't think of this kind of scenario, where they'd need to contact the vet because I was incapacitated.