Question 2010 Ford Escape, 2 car seats and a dog

[letitsnow]

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are expecting our second child. Our first will be almost exactly 2 years when #2 is due. We also have a 60lb retriever mix. We like to travel with the dog and take a fair amount of weekend and extended driving trips. Currently, the dog sits in the back seat, and we are trying to figure out if there's a way to keep the dog in the back seat with two car seats. We have a Britax Marathon and a Chicco Nextfit, although are willing to buy a new/different car seat because that would be much cheaper than buying a new car. I suppose the alternative is to put the dog in the trunk, but then that means we have very limited cargo space, even with a roof rack. FWIW, our first is on the larger side. 29lbs and 34 inches at 18 months.

Has anyone else out there been in this situation and can offer any advice?

Other cars we are looking at are the Subaru outback, which has such a large trunk we could probably fit the dog and some gear back there. But, again, I really don't want to get a new car. I am quite fond of our Escape!

Thanks in advance for your help!

D.J.

 

[abigaylebelle]

Does the dog prefer to sit up or lie down? I'm wondering if the dog would be ok in a harness between the two carseats.

Otherwise I doubt different carseats would make much of a difference. Even very narrow seats will only buy you a couple of inches, which is important when putting three car seats/people in but probably won't make or break the dog's comfort.

Personally we put our medium sized dog in the trunk in his crate and pack around him. I'm guessing your dog would need a pretty large crate though. If it helps we have a 2011 forester. Perhaps a harness attached to an approved anchor location in the trunk of the escape?

 

[letitsnow]

The dog definitely prefers to lie down. I was hoping she would squeeze in behind the driver if we could get the two car seats next to each other. She's taken to resting her head on the back of the driver's seat.

Thanks for your response. I think I am starting to accept that we need a new car.

DJ

 

[abigaylebelle]

Ok so you were hoping to put the children side by side then? I don't know if the marathon and the nextfit will install next to each other in your car. It's certainly worth a try.

If the seats don't fit next to each other you could consider a radian for the older child and then use the marathon (if it is a new generation one with the moving headrest) for the newborn. Or you could try a coccoro for the newborn and keep the toddler in the nextfit or marathon, whichever fits next to the coccoro.

 

[safeinthecar]

I put 6 people and 3 dogs (90#, 40#, and 10#) in a Honda Odyssey. I find that as long as a build up the floorboard in front of the seating position the dogs will be in, that they have plenty of room. I put a cardboard box (I use the inside to store the soft goods like pillows, jackets so it's not wasted space) on the floor so it's the same height as the vehicle seat, then lay a blanket over the top for padding.

One thing to think about if you don't have one already, is getting a harness for the dog that connects to the car's seatbelts. For one thing, a 60# dog will do a lot of damage if it is thrown into a human at 65mph (weight x speed = aprox pounds of force), but even in minor crashes dogs may freak and bolt out an open window and run into traffic.