Pet Auto Safety

Our plea for a traveling dog story has not gone unanswered. Patricia (Pat) from Arizona shares her dog, Bruce, with us. Bruce (probably a Labrador retriever mix) was picked out of a litter of puppies on a farm in Oregon several years ago. He was named Bruce, after Bruce Wayne, of Batman (one of the kids named him). As you may know, Oregon and Arizona have a lot in common when it comes to nature trails. Bruce and his family trekked the mountains of Oregon in early life, and continued the quest when they moved to Arizona. The family often takes nature trips in their SUV where Bruce travels in the back behind a pet car barrier similar to the Euro-Bar pet car barrier. Their favorite trip was in Sedona where Bruce investigated nature while off-leash on one of the out-of-the-way nature trails. Bruce found a tarantula in the path but smartly avoided it. Even though the tarantula was probably harmless, Bruce knew better than to mess with wild animals (experience based on confrontations with snakes and skunks). Bruce is a smart and savvy dog. And even though he likes to investigate nature, he is never goes beyond the sight of his family.

(Pat says she has a picture of the tarantula too!  She will have to scan it and send it to us later,though.)

While the Pet Buckle® Dog Travel Harness has been crash tested and other dog travel harness brands have not, most other dog travel harness brands have at least been strength tested. Crash testing does not guarantee that the Pet Buckle® Dog Travel Harness is safer than other dog travel harness brands, but since other dog travel harness brands have not been crash tested there is no proof about which is better. Strength testing is a valid assurance of safety, but crash testing is more assuring. And crash testing a dog travel harness means something else. It means that the manufacturer cares enough about pet safety that they are willing to spend the millions of dollars to make sure their product is safe for your pet.

The Guardian Gear® Ride Right Padded Dog Car Harness has recently been added to Pet Auto Safety.com. Like our black and black with paw prints dog car harness, the houndstooth padded dog car harness, and the camouflage dog car harness, the Ride Right Padded Dog Car Harness has a clip-on strap which buckles directly into the seat belt receptacle of your car. And like the houndstooth padded dog car harness, it is padded with confortable berber lining. The Ride Right Padded Dog Car Harness is also made of water-resistant polyester. The heavy duty make and adjustable fit makes it an ideal safe and comfortable dog car harness for your pet.

Check out the crash test video of the only dog car safety harness to be crash tested - The Pet Buckle®. I would like to caution you before watching the video. Although the video is of crash test dog dummies, they closely resemble dogs. Visit

http://www.immioutdoors.com/petbuckle/sledtest.htm to watch the video. And to purchase the Pet Buckle® Dog Car Safety Harness, visit Pet Auto Safety.com.

Tired of muddy paw prints soaking through your dog seat cover after you take your dog home from the dog park? I know I am. After spending almost $100 to get the interior of my car professionally cleaned, I went searching for a quality water-resistant dog seat cover. And I found it through Cruising Companion. Cruising Companion has developed a new dog seat cover which is not only stylish, but also resistant to water. It is two sided - a teflon-coated nylon on one side and warm fleece on the other. It is in a hammock style so that it not only covers the seat of your car, but also the back of the front seats and the floor. Don’t worry, you can still use your dog seat belts with this dog seat cover. It has two seat belt holes for your convenience. And when your dog seat cover gets really dirty, it is machine washable.

Dee-Ann Durbin with the Eagle Tribune has written a good article about pet auto safety devices and why your pet should where one whenever they are in the car. She writes about the Pet Buckle which is a brand we have recently acquired and offer for sale on our website, Pet Auto Safety.com. She also talks about pet car booster seats and pet crates which we also offer for sale. And she mentions a product we never heard of called the Pet Tube. While we contact the manufacturer of the Pet Tube see if we can make arrangements to sell it from Pet Auto Safety.com, you check out the great pet auto safety article at www.EagleTribune.com.

Pet Auto Safety.com has added a new product to the site. We are proud to say that we have found a company which actually spent the millions of dollars to crash test their product. The Pet Buckle® Dog Car Safety Harness has been crash tested using dog dummies. Because crash testing is so expensive, other dog car safety harness products have only been strength tested. That’s not to say that those products aren’t safe, but you can be assured with the Pet Buckle® Dog Car Safety Harness. The Pet Buckle® Dog Car Safety Harness is made with same quality automotive grade components as your car and is tested using the same test equipment used to test restraints found on commercial trucks, child restraints, and school buses. Due to the high cost of crash testing, the Pet Buckle® Dog Car Safety Harness is a bit more expensive than other dog car safety harness brands. But you will have more peace of mind when you travel with your beloved pet.

If your dog rides in a kennel or crate when they are in the car, your dog is much safer than a dog riding in the car without any safety restraints. But to make your dog as safe as a dog wearing a safety restraint such as a dog seat belt, try kennel straps restraint system. The kennel straps restraint system keep your dog’s kennel, carrier,or crate strapped safely in the car so that it does not slide off the seat in a sudden turn, stop, or collision. The kennel straps restraint system is made from the same seat belt quality webbing as the seat belts of your car. This kennel straps restraint system is made by the same company, Pet Buckle®, which crash tests their pet travel products.

A visitor to our site recently asked us, “Do you have any suggestions on how to get dog hair out of a pet car hammock without having to wash it?” That was a difficult question and I am sorry to say that unless you have a super powered vacuum cleaner, there is no perfect answer. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can use a lint roller brush and a pair of tweezers. But most of us don’t have that kind of time - or patience. So here are a few quick tips which may not get rid of all the hair but will certainly help.

Bounce fabric softener claims to repel pet hair. Try putting a few Bounce sheets in your dryer along with your dog car seat cover or pet car hammock. Do this before you put the dog car seat cover or pet car hammock in the car and do it again in a few weeks or months, depending on how often your dog rides in the car.

Try spraying the dog car seat cover or pet car hammock with a static guard spray. This type of spray not only reduces static, but it also helps to repel pet hair. Obviously, with your dog sitting on the car seat cover or pet car hammock, hairs are still going to get forced into the fabric. But perhaps not as much.

Try using a material lint brush rather than the tape ones. I have a red glove-like lint brush which resembles an ovenmit without the thumb-piece. I believe I got it at PetsMart or possibly even Walmart. It is very easy to use and you can do a few swipes with it every time your dogs get out of the car. Again, it won’t remove all the hair, but it will help keep it at a minimum.

The visitor to our site told us that she has heard of using rubber gloves. I have never tried that but from what I have read elsewhere, it sounds like it might work. The next time I need to clean my dog car seat cover, I will give that a try.

If you have any suggestions, please share!

Jennifer from Minnesota recently emailed us about her order of the Guardian Gear Dog Seat Belt s. We have copied her email below:

“I received these harnesses and have used them quite a few times in the last couple of days…

Thank you!”

Thank you, Jennifer, for keeping your dogs safe in the car! And thank you for sharing your experience with us. We love dogs and are always glad to hear great experiences from other dog lovers. My dogs, Sephi and Maya wear the exact same brand. Maya is the one pictured at the top of this blog. And yes, she is wearing her Guardian Gear Dog Seat Belt.