Thursday, February 3, 2011

Dog Travelling in Your Car? 5 Points to Consider.

By Carol Cadman


How often do you take your dog with you in the car? When you do so, do you think about the risks to you and your dog?

1. It is not uncommon to see people driving along with their dog poking its head out of an open car window. However, the dog is at danger of being hit by stones, chippings or other debris which may be thrown up by other vehicles. Dogs have been known to jump out of car windows if they see something that takes their fancy, sometimes even when a car is moving at speed.

2. Dogs sitting in the passenger seat of your car are at risk of injury if the airbag is deployed. Airbags are designed to protect humans not canines!

3. Dogs that are left loose in the car may try to sit on your knee, lick you or otherwise distract you, taking your attention away from the road and putting you, your dog and other road users in danger.

4. A dog that is loose in the car is a danger to himself. There are various statistics but as a guide if you were travelling at only 30mph a dog around 50lb in weight (medium to large) could be catapulted forward with the force the same as nine 12 stone humans (taken from RAC). Think of the consequences if the dog hits you the driver or the windscreen.

5. A great safety item to use to prevent problems is a dog car harness. A good dog car harness should have a seat belt restraint system, adjustable straps and swivel fitting which will allow your dog to sit or lie in comfort and also it should be padded to reduce the amount of friction on his body caused by the natural body movement when in transit.

Overall it takes just a couple of minutes to secure your dog and it is time well spent to save you, your passengers and your beloved pet from serious injury. In an RAC survey, 88% of us agreed that the use of dog car harnesses is an important safety measure however, 60% of us had never used a harness/seat belt for our pet. We are a nation of dog lovers and we look after them as we would any other member of our family, don't we?




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