Pet Auto Safety

A dog hammock for the car serves three major purposes.

1) The first is the dog hammock helps to keep the dog in the back seat. This is because the dog hammock attaches to the front and rear seat headrests and the gap between the two front seats is blocked by the dog hammock. Keeping your dog in the back seat protects you so that your dog does not distract you by jumping back and forth from the front to the back and the back to the front.

2) The second is the dog hammock keeps dog hair and mud off of the upholstery of your car. You can take your dog swimming and not worry about mud and wet dog getting soaked into your seats.

3) The third is the dog hammock keeps your dog off the floor. Should you have to suddenly stop, your dog won’t get thrown onto the floor which could cause injury.

A good dog hammock for the car should also have slots so that the seat belts are accessable. It is always a good idea to have your dog wearing a pet restraint when traveling in the car.

Dogs may be more tolerant to cold weather than people, but dogs can still die in this winter weather. If your dog is an outside dog, make sure they have shelter away from the wind, sleet, and snow. For added warmth, put a blanket or some straw in their shelter. Always bring your dog indoors during severe weather.

The most obvious Indication that your dog is freezing is the shivering. But if the dog is shivering excessively, then your dog may need emergency care. Other symptoms of freezing include weakness and the inability to use their legs. If you notice these severe symptoms, practice emergency care for your dog by immediately bringing them into a warm place. Wrap your dog in warm blankets but do not rub them as this may promote frostbite. You can also wrap warm bottles in towels and put around your dog. You don’t want to put hot bottles in direct contact with your dog and you don’t want to warm your dog up too quickly so do not submerge them in warm water. Also do not use electric heat from an electric heater or an electric blanket.

Check your dog’s feet and toes for signs of frostbite. The skin may be discolored and may not warm up with the rest of the body. If you notice frostbite or your dog does not stop shivering, take them to the vet immediately.

For more emergency pet care information visit http://emergencycarefordogs.info.

Confine your rambunctious pet to the back of your car, van or SUV. A car barrier for dog should be installed inside a vehicle for the safety of everyone. Your active pet will have a space of his own away from the driver and the passengers. The traditional wire mesh barrier is simplicity at its best. It’s available in different sizes for various types of vehicles.

You can also install a front seat safety barrier to keep your dog from climbing onto the console or into the front seat of your car. Simply fix it in place when traveling. For more insistent pets who tend to chew or destroy things, get the strongest barriers on the market. Instead of the wire mesh, get the heavy gauge, welded, tubular construction to set doggy firmly in his place.

Like babies and little children, dogs need to be protected during travel. If your pooch is not very well-behaved whenever he is inside a moving vehicle, get him one of durable dog car seats to restrain him from moving around while you drive.

There are dog car seats that are ideal for tiny pets who naturally want to look out of the window at the passing sceneries. The practical car booster seat attaches in seconds to the passenger seat of most vehicles for a safe and comfortable ride. It has adjustable straps and safety harness that attaches to the pet collar. It is foldable for easy storage when not in use.

Follow these directions for using the Pet Car Harness sold by PetAutoSafety.com:

1)  Unbuckle the straps and unclip the safety strap from the D-ring of the pet car harness.

2)  Put the pet car harness on the dog so that the metal D-ring is on the dog’s back facing the tail, the shorter strap is close to the dog’s neck and the larger strap is at the dog’s middle.

3).  Fasten the buckle of the shorter strap around the dog’s neck.  Adjust to fit to about the same looseness or tightness as the dog’s collar.  You should be able to slide two fingers under the strap.

4)  Put the dog’s front right leg through the pet car harness so that padded chest piece goes from the dog’s throat to between their legs to under the chest.

5)  Bring the longer strap of the pet car harness behind the dog’s front legs and fasten the buckle.  Adjust looseness or tightness as per above.

6)  Attach the safety clip to the D-ring of the pet car harness.

7)  Put your dog in the car and insert the buckle clip into the seat belt buckle receptacle of your car.

8)  Adjust the safety strap to desired length so your pet can comfortably sit, lie, or stand in the seat.  The strap should not be so long that your dog can get onto the floor of the car.  Or what we do is use the Extend-A-Seat along with our pet car harness so that we can lengthen the strap and give our dogs have more maneuverability.

We are currently in need of photos of pets wearing our dog seat belt harness.  If you check out our main site, we currently only have a photo of our large dog, Maya, wearing the dog seat belt harness.  We need a photo of a cat or tea-cup sized dog, an extra small dog, a small/medium dog, and an extra large dog wearing the dog seat belt harness.

If purchase a seat belt from us, submit a JPEG photo of your dog wearing the dog seat belt harness to naturebydawn@aol.com with “Seat Belt Photo” as the subject.  Just by submitting the photo, you will receive a 20% refund.  If we select your photo, you will receive a full refund, including shipping.  See our web page for more details of the Win A Free Dog Seat Belt Harness Contest.