Pet Auto Safety

Sadie behind the BreezeGuard Window Screen.

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Distractions cause over a million car accidents each year. These distractions include anything from talking on the cell phone, grooming, tending to a baby, and pet distractions. Keeping a dog in the back seat is an important pet auto safety feature which helps reduce the distraction a pet could cause. The Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier is the simplest way to achieve this.

The Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier is a piece of sturdy canvas which attaches easily by wrapping around the headrests of the front seats and around the bottom half of the front seats. Once attached, the canvas part of the pet car barrier blocks the center console area. This keeps most dogs from being able to put their head between the seats, from standing on the center console, and from jumping into the front seat.

Notice that we said ‘most dogs’. As you can see from the photo above, the Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier is only as high as the seats of your car. It does not go all the way to the ceiling so some dogs may try to jump over it. Therefore, the Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier works best for small to medium sized dogs. It can work for large dogs too if your large dog is not inclined to try to jump over it. If my dog Maya (the dog photographed above) was not wearing her dog car harness, she would probably try to jump it.

The Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier could help protect your dog in the event of a car accident. For small to medium sized dogs, your dog is not as likely to get thrown through the windshield in a front end car accident. But since the Outward Hound Pet Car Barrier does not go all the way to the ceiling, this is still a possibility. While other pet auto safety products exist for protecting your dog, the Outward Hound Pet Car barrier is relatively inexpensive and it is easy to use. Just remember that while it may be effective in keeping your dog from being a distraction, it does not provide the same safety as a dog car harness, pet car seat, or secured pet crate.

In case of a car accident, airbags are a great safety device. Most cars nowadays have airbags for both the driver and the front passenger. But remember, airbags are made for adult people, not children or dogs. So if your dog rides in the car, be sure they are in an area that does not have airbags.

Most cars with passenger side airbags in the front seat only go off during a high impact car accident if there is someone sitting in that seat. Check with your car manufacturer to verify whether the passenger side airbags trigger automatically or only if there is a certain amount of weight in the seat. If your dog is a small dog, you may not need to worry about the airbag because the airbag sensor might not register anyone sitting in that seat. This is a safety feature that was set up to protect a child sitting in the front seat since you do not want the airbags to deploy for small children.

However, to be certain that the airbag does not deploy when your dog is in the front seat, check your car manual to see if the front passenger airbag can be disabled. If not, have your large dog ride in the back seat or have your small dog sit in a pet booster seat which hangs from the headrest of the seat rather than sits on the seat itself. With the pet booster seat hanging from the headrest, the airbag may not trigger since there is no weight in the seat.

I was lucky enough to win a sample CD from Through a Dog’s Ear.  I liked it and upon reviewing their website, I found the perfect CD related to pet travel.  It is called the “Driving Edition“.

Music can be very soothing.  It is a great way for us to relieve stress and unwind.  And it can even help dogs.  The creators of Through a Dog’s Ear have done bio-acoustic research on the effect of music on dogs.  Imagine what a selection of music perfectly suited to the acclimations of your dog’s sense of hearing can do for an overly excited dog in the car or for a dog who is very nervous in the car.  Visit Through a Dog’s Ear for more information.

Pet Auto Safety.com has lots of pet car hammock products including the Guardian Gear pet car hammock, Wander pet car hammock from Kurgo, and the Outward Hound pet car hammock.  All the pet car hammock products at pet auto safety.com are similar in style and use.

A pet car hammock helps to keep your dog in the back seat.  And it also helps to protect your dog in a minor accident.  Because a pet car hammock covers the floor of the back seat, your dog won’t get thrown onto the floor if a minor car accident should occur.  A dog getting thrown onto the floor could suffer broken bones.

Best of all, a pet car hammock also protects your car from muddy paw prints and dog hair.  The pet car hammock products work by hanging off the front and back headrests of your seats.  If you back seats do not have headrests, then you probably will not be able to effectively use a pet car hammock.

If the pet car hammock products all work the same, what makes the pet car hammock from Outward Hound different from the other pet car hammocks on Pet Auto Safety.com?  The biggest difference is the price.  The Outward Hound pet car hammock is the least expensive.  The cloth is a bit thinner than the cloth of the other pet car hammock products, but it is just as durable.  And the Outward Hound pet car hammock does not come with all the added features that the Wander pet car hammock comes with (ie water bottle and carrying bag).

Visit ASPCA.org for some great pet car travel tips.  They advise several safety features for your dog including securing them in a well-ventilated pet carrier, not letting your dog stick his head out the window, and not leaving your dog unattended in the car.  These are lots of great tips for pet car travel, many of which we have also stressed.  Two differences:

1) The pet carrier should be secured in the car.  Kennel straps from Pet Buckle are a great way to do this.  The kennel straps from Pet Buckle have been crash tested.

2) If your dog doesn’t like to ride in a pet carrier, have him wear a dog car harness or ride in a pet car seat.  A dog car harness or pet car seat can provide as much safety for your dog as a pet carrier that has been secured in the car.

Visit the ASPCA.org for great pet car travel tips and other great advise on pet care.  Feel free to make a donation to help this non-profit organization fight animal cruelty.

The Extend-a-Seat from Outward Hound is a simple pet product for your car that covers the floor of your car.  Its obvious use is that it gives your dog more room in the back seat.  But did you know that it also provides a form of protection?

Have you ever slammed on the brakes and your dog flew forward into the back of your chair?  Did he fall on the floor?  Someone told me once that their dog had gotten thrown forward in such an awkward way that he broke his leg.  And this was because of a fast stop, not a car accident.  Imagine an actual car accident where your dog gets thrown on the floor.  I was in a wreck once where my seat was pushed back.  If there had been a dog back there, he would have been squished.

If your dog won’t wear a dog seatbelt harness or doesn’t do well in a pet carrier, protect your dog in the car by covering the floor with an Extend-a-Seat.  My dogs wear a dog seatbelt harness but I also have the Extend-a-Seat.  This is because I have the strap of their dog seatbelt harness a little long so that they have more freedom to move around on long trips.  Our pets are important to us.  Keep them safe and don’t wait for the worst to happen before you consider their safety.

Disclosure – Unless your dog is also wearing a dog seatbelt harness, the Extend-a-Seat may not protect your dog much in an actual car accident.  Getting thrown forward out the windshield is still a very real possibility.

Since most manufacturers of the pet car barrier do not state which barriers fit into which vehicles, finding the right metal pet car barrier for your can be difficult.  This is true for the manufacturer who provides the metal pet car barrier products on our website, Pet Auto Safety.com.

If you are not sure if the metal pet car barrier products on Pet Auto Safety.com are right for you, we welcome you to check out other pet car barrier products on other sites.  Amazon.com has a selection of pet car barrier products from various manufacturers.  You can visit our Amazon.com a-Store for more metal pet car barrier products to choose from.

* Always be sure to measure the inside of your vehicle to make sure that the pet car barrier you want to purchase will fit within those dimensions.

The manufacturer has discontinued the paw print dog seatbelts.  As of the date of this post, we still have all sizes available.  However, this could change at any moment.

The paw print dog seatbelts work just the same as our standard dog seatbelts.  They have two pieces – the harness piece and the strap piece.  The strap piece attaches to the harness on one end and buckles directly into the seat belt receptacle of your car at the other end.  The only difference between the paw print dog seatbelts and the standard dog seatbelts, besides the color, is that the paw print dog seatbelts have a little bit of a thicker material due to the sewed on design of paw prints.

Both these dog seatbelts help to protect your dog in the event of a car accident.  If the paw print dog seatbelts are gone by the time you read this post, the standard dog seatbelts are just as good though not as fashionable.

Trips to the beach, the dog park and other weekend excursions can be a lot of fun for both you and your canine companion! Most dogs love the chance to get out of the house and socialize with fellow doggy companions. However, if your lovable pooch suffers from car sickness, these outings can become an unpleasant experience for both owner and pet.  

Unlike people, canine car sickness is not always caused by motion.  A carsick pooch is very likely feeling ill from the anxiety caused by a strange situation. Cars can be loud and scary for a dog that hasn’t had very much exposure to car travel. Symptoms of travel anxiety include drooling, pacing, trembling, whining, yawning and vomiting. Thankfully, owners can do a couple of things to ease this stressful situation:

•If your dog isn’t used to car rides, start with drives around the block. Slowly progress to longer car trips as your pup gets used to the situation.

•Avoid feeding your dog less than one hour prior to travel- this might lessen the feeling of nausea.

• Keep your car on the cool side by turning your air conditioning up or lowering the windows a little. A hot, stuffy car can contribute to your pet’s nausea and discomfort.

•Try an over-the-counter stress reliever for dogs like Homeopet Travel Anxiety Drops. These types of products might help a mildly affected pooch feel at ease while inside a moving vehicle.  

If your dog’s car sickness is severe or does not lessen over time, contact your pet’s veterinarian. A prescription medication to treat vomiting like Cerenia may be prescribed.