Pet Auto Safety

We have added an extra small dog car harness from Kurgo to our Pet Auto Safety.com website. In the past, the smallest dog who could wear a Kurgo Tru-Fit dog car harness was a small dog with a 16-22 inch girth. Because there are a lot of dogs who are much smaller than this, some customers could not use a Kurgo brand dog car harness.

Since Kurgo has now added an extra small dog car harness, little dogs with a girth between 12-18 inches can now wear the Tru-Fit dog car harness. The Kurgo Tru-Fit dog car harness secures your dog in the car using the loop-system tether. The tether on the back of the harness is a loop in which the seat belt of your car goes through. This restricts your dog’s movement a bit, but that is a good thing since he will not be tossed around so much in the event of a car accident.

The extra small Kurgo Tru-Fit dog car harness is still not the smallest dog car harness that Pet Auto Safety has. The standard Guardian Gear dog car harness brand should fit little dogs with a girth as small as 10 inches. The PetBuckle dog car harness brand should also fit little dogs with a girth as small as 10 inches.

People visiting our pet travel safety website (PetAutoSafety.com) have been asking if we have a replacement tether for a dog car harness. The answer used to be no because the manufacturers of our dog car harness brands did not offer them. But now we have Bergan. Here is a product review of the Bergan replacement tether for a dog car harness.

The manufacturers of the Bergan dog car harness brand offer a replacement tether for a dog car harness. The best part about the Bergan replacement tether is that it can be used with any brand of dog car harness. The Bergan replacement tether for a dog car harness uses carabiner clips which allows it to clip onto the back of almost any dog car harness brand including Guardian Gear, Cruising Companion, Pet Buckle, and Kurgo. The carabiner clip of the replacement tether for a dog car harness will attach to any seat belt system (as pictured below).

Bergan strength tests their products and so the replacement tether for a dog car harness from Bergan has been tested to make sure it will withstand over a thousand pounds of pressure (enough to hold a large dog in a car accident).

If your dog chews the tether on his dog car harness, you don’t have to purchase a whole new dog car harness. As long as your dog car harness has a place to clip a large carabiner, you can get the Bergan replacement tether.

We just posted about one of our new pet car travel products, the Auto Zip Line from Kurgo. But this isn’t the only one of our new pet car travel products. We have several. Keep checking us out for more reviews on pet travel products such as the Backseat Bridge from Kurgo, the Car Door Guards from Kurgo, replacement tethers from Bergan for just about any dog car harness brand, and the AngelGuard seat belt protector.

For years I used the Extend-A-Seat from Outward Hound. But after an incident with my new dog Pierson who got a severe bloody nose, I decided to replace it with the Backseat Bridge from Kurgo. It is a bit more expensive but it is well worth it. It is much stronger and does a much better job of acting as a barrier between seats. It also has those nice flaps against the seat so that my dog doesn’t accidentally step in the space between the bridge and the seat. I just added the Car Door Guards as well (not yet added in photo of my car above). It is the same khaki color as the Backseat Bridge and goes perfectly with my new car interior. I have not yet decided if I am going to use the Auto Zip Line. The Auto Zip Line gives more freedom for my dogs to move around, but that could be harmful in the event of an emergency car maneuver. The Auto Zip Line from Kurgo is great for dogs who MUST move around in the car or they will be anxious. I also don’t use the AngelGuard. It is not needed for the Bergan or PetBuckle dog car harness brands. And it won’t work with the Guardian Gear or Cruising Companion dog car harness brands. The AngelGuard is only helpful for dog car harness brands like the Tru-Fit Smart dog car harness which uses the entire seat belt system of the car to restrain your dog.

Visit us again for more information on these great pet car travel products, new to Pet Auto Safety.com in 2012!

When you put on the Bergan dog car harness for the first time, it can seem a bit complicated. Adjusting the neck size and girth size is not as easy as the instructions make it seem. Luckily, Bergan has a great instruction video to help us out.

Once you learn how to put on the Bergan dog car harness, you never have to adjust the sizing again (except perhaps for minor re-fittings due to extended use or your dog changes weight). Once it is sized, it is super easy to put on and use again and again.

Check out Dougie in his Bergan dog car harness! His mom thanked us for sending this to her and she says she really likes it. It fits Dougie very well and he seems comfortable in it. Dougie’s mom apologized for the not being able to see the Bergan dog car harness very well in the photo. She has a two door car so getting a picture of him in the back seat at a good angle was difficult. I think the photo looks great! What do you think? Do you have a photo of your dog wearing a dog car harness? Share it with us. Share your pet travel stories and your dog car harness review too!

The Comfort of a Pet Auto Seat Belt

A pet auto seat belt can actually be quite comfortable once the dog gets used to it.  Dogs can have a difficult time laying down in the seat of the car because of the turning, speeding up, slowing down, and stopping movements.  With a pet auto seat belt, a dog can stand, sit, or lay down comfortably and not have to worry about bracing themselves against car maneuvers.

Keep Your Dog from being a Distraction to the Driver

The dog won’t be able to distract the person driving the car.  Distractions can be very dangerous to the driver.  Some dogs are naturally well-behaved in the vehicle but many dogs have to be trained car-riding decorum.  Why not train them in a dog car seat belt or other pet safety restraint instead?

The Bergan dog seat belt is new to our site. Although we have had many dog seat belt brands on our site since its inception in 2006, we couldn’t pass up adding the new dog seat belt from Bergan. It is one of the most versatile dog seat belt brands in that there are no limitations what kind of vehicles they will work in and they will fit every size of dog, including the largest of dogs. But what we like most about the Bergan dog seat belt is the extensive strength testing that has been completed on it.

Our Kurgo and Pet Buckle dog seat belt brands have also been well tested for strength and durability. But the Kurgo Tru-Fit Smart dog seat belt uses the loop system to restrain your dog and we feel that an energetic dog can get tangled in this mechanism. The Pet Buckle is the only dog seat belt that has extended their strength testing to actual crash testing with dog dummies, but it only comes in a small or a large. They also use the loop system but can come with a tether that only works in 2001 model cars and later.

V9DT is the first standardized test for the dog seat belt. Bergan has completed this test and the results will be posted on the V9DT site soon. While the results are not yet available to download, they are complete and the Bergan dog seat belt has been given the V9DT seal of approval. You can find out more about the V9DT Test Standards at http://www.v9dt.com/standard.htm and the V9DT Test Procedures at http://www.v9dt.com/procedure.htm. Knowing the extent of such testing, we are confident in the quality and safety of the Bergan dog seat belt.

Putting the Bergan dog car harness on your dog is easy. Sizing it, however, is another matter. The directions provided by the manufacturer come with photos of how to put on the dog car harness, but not on how to adjust the size of the dog car harness. There are written instructions but without corresponding photos, one is left to guess. So in order to help you out, we have put together a list of instructions along with our own corresponding photos of how to put on and adjust the Bergan dog car harness.

Step one in putting on the Bergan dog car harness is to unclip the harness at the back. Then lay the dog car harness flat on the ground with the Bergan logo facing down. The part of the dog car harness with the Bergan logo on it is the top part.

Then, have your dog step over the dog car harness with his front feet in the open spaces. Your dog’s head will be facing the top of the dog car harness.

Once you dog is in place, pull the dog car harness up and clip it on the back. The dog car harness will be very loose the first time you put it on. Adjusting the size around the neck and the chest of the Bergan dog car harness works in tandem. By making the neck strap smaller, the chest strap gets bigger. Don’t worry, the chest strap can then be shortened without making the neck bigger. This is important to know because this means that you will need to adjust the neck size of the dog car harness first.

Adjust the neck size by pulling the strap through the padded front of the dog car harness. Be sure to do this on both sides for an even fit.

Once the neck strap of the dog car harness is fitted, you will need to adjust the chest strap. Rather than pull the chest trap through the padded front of the dog car harness like you did for the neck, you will pull the strap through the buckle at the top.

When the neck and chest straps are well fitted (snug like a dog collar), you can cut off the excess strap. If your dog is still growing, leave as much length as you think will be needed, plus three inches. If your dog is at his maximum size, be sure to leave at least three inches of strap.

Once your dog is fitted into the Bergan dog car harness, you will not need to go through these steps again. You will, however, need to verify the fit from time to time in order to make sure it remains snug and to adjust for any weight gain or loss.

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As you know from the recent post on the new dog car harness from Bergan, the Bergan dog car harness works differently that our other dog car harness brands. The Guardian Gear and Cruising Companion dog car harness brands buckle directly into the seat belt receptacle, the Tru-Fit and Pet Buckle dog car harness brands use the loop system, and the Pet Buckle brand also uses a tether which attaches to a latch bar.

The Bergan dog car harness doesn’t work in any of these three ways. Like the Guardian Gear, Cruising Companion, and Pet Buckle dog car harness, it uses a tether. But that tether is not depended on a fitting seat belt receptacle or latch bar. It can clip on to any seat belt system.

The photo above shows how the Bergan dog car harness tether uses the carabiner to attach and secure your dog in the car. One end of the carabiner clip is attached to the back of your dog’s harness while the other end is clipped between the folds of the seat belt attachment (pictured below).

If the seat belt receptacle attachment will not easily accommodate the carabiner, you can simply buckle the seat belt strap in and wrap your carabiner around it (pictured below).

The use of the carabiner is quick and easy. For further simplicity, you can leave the carabiner attached in your car and simply attach the other end to the harness part of the Bergan dog car harness when your dog gets in the car. If you have any questions about how the Bergan dog car harness works, please feel free to contact us. We will post another article in a couple of days showing how the Bergan dog car harness is put on your dog.