Pet Auto Safety

Help dogs stay cool on a pet cooling mat.

Now that spring is here, I bet you want to be outdoors more. I bet your dog does too. Perhaps now that the sun is shining and the weather is warmer, you and your dog can go somewhere for a nature hike, visit the lake for a picnic or a swim, or go to that dog park you really love but didn’t go before because it was too cold outside and all the way across town. But before you and your dog head out the door, let me make one very important reminder about dogs in cars. And also, let me introduce a new product that is perfect for pet travel in warm weather.

I want to introduce the new pet travel product first. I’m excited about it because I think it is a great pet product for when we travel long distances with the dogs. See, the a/c of my car doesn’t get to the back of the car where Maya and Pierson are as easily as it blasts us in the front. So if I want my dogs to stay cool, I have to wear a coat and have the a/c on full blast. The new product we found is a pet cooling mat and it allows my dogs to stay cooler without me freezing my you-know-what off.

The Slumber Pet cooling mat is very easy to use. Simply put it in the refrigerator to let it cool down. And then take it out for your dog to lie on. Your dog can lie on it directly, or you can put it in their pet bed. Your dog can lie on it inside the house, outside, or in the car for pet travel in warm weather. (If you use the pet cooling mat outside, use it in the shade so that the coolness lasts longer.)

This pet travel product brings me to the point about safety I wanted to make. This product does not mean that you are allowed to leave your dog alone in the car while you run inside to get groceries and such. Never ever ever leave your dog alone in the car. The pet cooling mat can stay cool for long periods, but not if it is exposed to extreme heat (such as the extreme heat that builds up in a car).

Even though the weather is not hot yet, it is warm enough to make the inside of your car hot, even if the windows are down. Don’t believe me? Go to the grocery store in the afternoon when the sun is out on a 60 degree day. I did that yesterday (without my dogs, of course) and by the time I got back to my car 30 minutes later, it was super-hot inside. If Maya or Pierson had been left in there, they might have had a heat stroke.

Heat is not the only danger of leaving your dog in the car. Someone could steal your dog. Trust me, this happens all the time. People take dogs from cars because they believe you are cruel for leaving them in there, because they want to use your dog as a bait dog, or for a multitude of other unsavory reasons.

Don’t leave your dog vulnerable to theft or to heat stroke. Always make sure someone can stay with your dog in the car, or just leave your dog at home. Plan trips to the park and such separately from your grocery trips and other errands. And don’t forget to bring plenty of water for your dog to drink!

If Maya & Pierson could drive, where would they go? To the food store, of course! Now that Maya has a driver’s licence, I’m going to have to take away her credit card. I might also have to make sure she doesn’t hang around with the wrong crowd at the dog park. Oh, goodness! There is so much to worry about when the kids grow up and go out on their own. At least I know Maya wears her seat belt when she is in the car.

Who’s idea was it to make it legal for dogs to drive anyway? Apparently, Subaru has!!! Yep, Maya’s driver’s license is with Subaru.

How can you get a driver’s license for your dog? By visiting Subaru’s Facebook app – http://subar.us/USzh6V. This app is super easy to use. I simply typed in Maya’s name and information, then downloaded a photo of her. Please note that Subaru posts these driver’s licenses on their FB page so use a fake address. How do you like our fake address? Get it? Here’s one for Pierson too. Notice his address.

By the way, Subaru has a number of other fun apps on their FB page. You can also put your dog in a Subaru, ask a dog expert about a Subaru, and map your dog walk.

If you haven’t seen any of the funny Subaru dog commercials, check this one out – http://bit.ly/WW7C2Y. Like all the funny Subaru dog commercials, it is super-hilarious!

By the way, Subaru is doing a contest for two Visa gift cards! The first place winner gets a $350 Visa gift card and the second place winner gets a $150 Visa gift card. This contest is open from today through 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, February 24th. There are a ton of ways to enter. Just do the tasks listed in the Rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer – We are being compensated by Subaru for this post. Please note, however, that we would not have agreed to post at all if we did not agree with the content. We love the funny Subaru dog commercials and have posted them before, unpaid. The other content we have been asked to post, like the Puppy Bowl promotion, has been a lot of fun and the Subaru Facebook app is cute.

For our participation in the Super Dog Sunday event, we were entered into a prize drawing. We didn’t even know our participation meant a possible prize so when Maya & Pierson won, it was a super surprise! For in case you weren’t aware, the Super Dog Sunday helped to benefit the Petfinder Foundation. While the twitter party is over, Super Dog Sunday continues with more possible prizes. Keep an eye out on this blog or our American Dog Blog for a giveaway of a Kumfy Koats. In the meantime, check out the pictures of Maya & Pierson with their prizes:

Maya & Pierson sit amongs all the great winnings.

This is what they won – two dog books, two toys, a paw-wipe towel, Toby & Max jewelry, a lickety stik dog treat, and a natural remedy for dog aggression (I can’t wait to try it on Pierson when he goes out and sees other dogs).

Pierson is telling me how much he loves his plush football dog toy.

My dogs love to ride in the car! Whenever I go someplace where my dogs are allowed to go too (since I won’t leave them in the car by themselves) I take them with me. So, bank drivethrough, fast food drivethrough, let’s go Maya & Pierson! Even better, let’s go to the dog park or the pet supply store to buy some toys!!!

Speaking of riding in the car, I absolutely love all the hilarious Subaru dog commercials. Did you see the new ones when you watched the Puppy Bowl? I had a teaser for one of the commercials last week. Here is another teaser. Then below that is one of the full commercials. Seriously funny.

I like this one, except the dog should not be sitting in the lap! Where’s your seat belt, miss/mr puppy? At least Grant Weber, the Subaru Salesman, isn’t actually driving with the dog in his lap.

When you watched the Puppy Bowl, did you get a chance to use the IntoNow app which presented Subaru content in conjunction with the show? I did and I liked it a lot, although I did have a bit of trouble figuring out how to use it. Also, because of my phone some of the links on the app did not allow me to use them… like the one for making a dog driver’s license. Fortunately, these are available on Subaru’s Facebook page. I will give it a try soon, then will let you know what I think.

We seldom do paid posts, but when we do it is because we like the content we are being asked to present… in this case, the funny Subaru dog commercials. We’ve posted these commercials a number of times in the past, unpaid, so it isn’t that much of a stretch to have a paid post. This is a paid post, although the text content associated with these videos is all our own.

No pet auto safety theme today. I just want to share some cute photos of my pups. Maya & Pierson don’t just help me in promoting safety in the car, the also provide me with boundless entertainment.

Maya and Pierson love to play together… although it does look like Pierson is having more fun in this photo than Maya.

Here is one of them playing outside. (Our grass is terribly brown this winter.)

When they are not playing, they are sleeping in the strangest positions.

Pierson too.

Maya loves to swim. (This was taken at the end of summer.)

She also loves baths (wierd).

Pierson likes to dress up. (not really, but he’ll do anything for a cookie.)

This is what Pierson does while I fill up his food bowl. First thing in the morning is potty break, then breakfast.

Synchronized spinning – see more on my American Dog Blog which can be found in the blog hop below.

Those are my pups. See how cute and entertaining they are? No wonder I make them buckle up when they are in the car.

For more adorable pet photos, visit the Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

New Year’s Resolution – Protect your four-legged family member in the car with a dog seat belt. Enter to win a Kurgo Tru-Fit dog car harness or a Bergan dog car harness for your dog by entering the Rafflecopter entries below. Comment, like, and follow your way to a safer pet. Open to US entrants only. The contest ends on Sunday, January 20th at 11:59pm. One winner will be chosen at random on the 21st and announced between the 21st and 23rd. The winner can select from the available sizes of either a Kurgo Tru-Fit brand or Bergan brand dog seat belt.

Sephi is wearing the Kurgo dog car harness.

Maya is wearing a red Kurgo Tru-Fit car harness.

The Kurgo Tru-Fit brand uses a loop system tether. The seat belt of your car goes through the loop on the harness in order to secure your pet in the car. The loop system keeps your dog more secure. It doesn’t allow for your dog to move around much so if your dog will try to move around while wearing the Kurgo brand, he may get tangled in the loop system. This brand is best for dogs that simply like to sit or lay down in the car. The Kurgo harness is slightly padded. Red is shown above with our dog Maya but we only have black available at this time for this contest. BTW, Maya has to use a Bergan tether with her Kurgo harness because she does like to move around a lot in the car.

Pierson is wearing the Bergan dog car harness.

The Bergan tether attaches to the seat belt of your car.

The padded chest piece of the Bergan brand is a little longer than that of the Kurgo brand. The tether of the Bergan brand attaches directly to the seat belt webbing of your car. This allows your dog to move around more. The shorter you keep the tether (which is adjustable in length) the safer your dog. But if your dog likes to move around a lot despite the harness, the Bergan tether may be better for them than the Kurgo loop tether.

Both the Kurgo and the Bergan have been safety tested for strength. Feel free to check out their pages for more information on each brand – Kurgo and Bergan. If you are not a winner but would like to purchase a dog seat belt, feel free to use discount code petfriend for 10% off.

Thanks for entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check out my last post about visiting my mom and stepdad in Missouri. I ended up going by myself because my husband’s boss wouldn’t let him have Monday or Wednesday off. Since it is a 5 hour drive, it didn’t make much sense to drive there and only visit for one day. Besides, I had that Dixie Stampede to take my mom and stepdad to on Sunday. That is a lot of driving back and forth. So my husband stayed behind and took care of Maya & Pierson. Here are the photos I took on my visit to my mom’s:

Me petting Sandy the goat. She loves for her chin and cheeks to be scratched.

My mom’s 10 chickens. There is Pixie, Cochise, and I don’t remember the names of the others.

This is one of my mom’s rabbits, Buck.

My mom’s dog Solo. She is such a sweetie!

Rocky is getting old. He is 10 years old and resting here on the bed.

This is a photo of one of the horses at the Dixie Stampede. They did not allow us to take photos of the show itself.

As I said, my husband had to stay behind because of work. It was very sad. But it looks like he had a good time with Maya & Pierson. And our friends Sha Sha and Jinbo were there too.

Here is my husband with Pierson. It looks like they had a great time without me.

Our friend Jinbo has Maya & Pierson doing tricks. They got lots of holiday treats too!

For other great pet photos for Wordless Wednesday, check out the blog hop below!

Solo and Rocky chilling out on the porch.

By the time you read this, we are already on the road to visit my mom and stepdad in Missouri. It is a five hour drive so it is not as long as when we went to my dad’s in Texas. Sadly, Maya & Pierson are staying behind with our friends Sha Sha and Jinbo. We decided not to take them with us to Missouri this year for two reasons:

The Dixie Stampede
My mother has just finished all her treatments for lung cancer and she is now officially cancer free! To celebrate, we are going to take her to Branson, Missouri to see the Dixie Stampede. My mother is a huge Dolly Parton fan (she won 2nd place in a Dolly look-a-like contest when she was younger) and the Dixie Stampede is somehow associated with Dolly Parton. Branson, Missouri does not have very many pet friendly accommodations and the Dixie Stampede is no exception.

My Mom’s Dog Solo
Solo absolutely hates other dogs. The last time we came for a visit with the dogs, Rocky and Solo had to take turns with Maya and Pierson being outside because they couldn’t be inside together. And since Branson is about two hours away from my mom’s house, we would have to keep two dogs outside for several hours at a time while we are gone. I don’t want to do that to them. Sha Sha and Jinbo have taken good care of Maya and Pierson before and love them almost as much as we do so we are confident that they will be in good hands.

Are your pets going with you for the holidays or will they have to stay behind? We’d love to hear about how you and your pets are spending this week.

I’ve tried two new pet travel products recently that I would like to share with you. I purchased both of these products in anticipation of our family trip to Texas. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my husband and I, our two friends, and our two dogs took a road trip from Lawrence, Kansas to Kyle, Texas to visit my family. These two products were to help make our trip better.

Travel Calm by Earth Heart
I purchased Travel Calm from a company called Earth Heart in hopes that it would help keep my Maya from being so excitable during the trip. If you haven’t heard about how my Labrador can be in the car, watch this video of her on You Tube called “Cute Dog Whining in the Car“.

Travel Calm seemed to really work. Maya was relatively quiet the entire trip! There might have been a bit of whining at the very end of the trip when we were almost home, but that was nothing compared to her usual excited whine. Seriously, it was like the Maya in that video and the Maya on the trip to Texas were two different dogs.

I put Travel Calm on Pierson too because the product said it could help with car sickness. Pierson has been known to get sick in the car. But he didn’t get sick at all on this trip. He is good in the vehicle and always calm so it was difficult to tell if the Travel Calm helped him relax or not.

Petz on Board Sign from Extremely Boards
Because of my own delay in purchasing this product, I did not receive it in time for the trip. But I did receive it when we got back home and I did have a chance to try it. It was great! The sign attaches with suction cups. I put it on my car Wednesday, went to a coffee shop drive-through with my dogs, and left the sign on my car overnight. It never fell off but was easy to remove when I took it down the next day. The board is a thin 6″ x 6″ diamond and made of durable plastic.

And just look at the sign. It is not at all extremely boring. Extremely Boards is awesome! Maya & Pierson’s photos on the sign are perfect. You can’t see the bottom of the sign but it lists the phone numbers of emergency contacts for Maya & Pierson. Should we get into a car accident where we have to be rushed to the hospital, emergency personnel have the means to get help for Maya & Pierson too! I really love this product.

Please note, I was not compensated for these reviews in any way. These products are not available on our PetAutoSafety.com website, but I sure would like for them to be.

Every year for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, we travel from Kansas to Texas to visit family. This year was extra special because we invited our friends Sha Sha and Jinbo to go with us. Because four people and two big dogs would not fit in any of our cars, we rented an SUV. Maya and Pierson rode comfortably and safely in the back cargo area. They got to wear their dog seat belts. But because the Ford did not have cargo rings, I had to use two connecting tethers and reach around to the seat belts in the back seats so that they could be hooked in. Connecting the seat belt tethers to the seat belts did not interfere with our ability to use the seat belts. Here are some pictures from our trip. And check out our other blog, http://americandogblog.wordpress.com/, for the rest of the pictures.

Filling up for gas in Kansas. Notice the top left corner. It is supposed to say, “Local Checks Only” but someone scraped off the C and the arms of the E. What can I say, we live in a college town.

Maya & Pierson in the cargo area of the SUV resting for the long long trip. Because of traffic, the trip ended up taking us 14 hours instead of 11.

Maya in the cargo area with our friend Sha Sha in the back seat.

Maya & Pierson ride in the back of the Ford Escape that we rented for our trip.

We stopped at a rest stop in Oklahoma.

This is at a rest stop in Texas.

I sure do miss the Texas sunsets. We are in north Texas, still a long ways away from my family’s house in Kyle, Texas (about 40 minutes south of Austin).

Finally home! Clockwise from left to right – Pierson, Odie (the bird in the background), me, Sha Sha, and my niece Elizabeth. Pierson is quite curious about little baby Elizabeth.

My nephew Bennett is kissing his little sister Elizabeth while Maya & Pierson look on curiously.

There are more Wordless Wednesday photos from our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving. Be sure to stop by our other blog!