S/o Dog seat belt?

[Pen]

 

URPOWER Upgraded Dog Seat Belt 2 Pack Dog Car Seatbelts Adjustable Pet Seat Belt for Vehicle Nylon Pet Safety Seat Belts Heavy Duty & Elastic & Durable Car Seat Belt for Dogs, Cats and Pets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076P8WBVH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VCf8CbXG74P0T

something like this?

For a 65 or so pound dog— what sort of harness? And how to determine if it will fit into the vehicle seat belt?

[Pen]

My son says only little dogs use seat belts.  True or false?

[Farrar]

My mom's medium dog uses one. But I don't understand how it would actually protect him. It allows a good bit of movement. I always think it's more to prevent him from ending up being a nuisance somewhere, like bugging my mom in the front.

[mom2scouts]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

My son says only little dogs use seat belts.  True or false?

False. My grandpuppy is a very large dog and he is always restrained in the backseat of the car. It can prevent injury to both the dog (like being thrown though a window or out of the vehicle) and other passengers as well as prevent the dog from causing an accident.

[Pawz4me]

The overwhelming majority of dog seat belts have never been crash tested. Most of them will probably work to keep a dog in his spot and not in your lap while you're driving. Will they work in a crash? Maybe or maybe not. Here's a good article. If I were buying one for crash safety I'd limit my choices to the ones in that article. Do consider how easy/difficult it is to get tangled.

[cintinative]

We recently bought this: https://www.chewy.com/kurgo-impact-car-safety-dog-harness/dp/142841

We used it last weekend.  A few notes:

It really only allows the dog to sit comfortably. Lying down doesn't work so well because the harness is very stiff and hard so the legs don't lie on each other like they would normally  (hopefully that makes sense)  This harness has been independently crash tested to 140 lbs.  

The way this works is there are loops on the back of the harness and the seat belt goes through those.  He really didn't get tangled in his own belt--he did sort of almost get tangled in the boys' belts.

We also got this: https://www.chewy.com/kurgo-swivel-seat-belt-tether/dp/56750

The idea of it was to help him be able to lie down easier--but see the problem above with the harness. He could lay down but was not super comfortable.

The reason we got it is that my dog likes to go in the front and stand and/or go back and forth between the front and back and we don't want to him to be hurt if there was an accident. Usually he is riding with my sons in the back seat so we don't want him to be a projectile either.  

One issue I can see with this for our long trip is that we would prefer to use his easy walk harness when just taking him on walks, and this impact harness is not as easy to get on and off. It must be loosened in multiple places and then he has to step out. From a safety standpoint, this makes a ton of sense. If you are going to be getting in and out of the car often and need to change the harness each time, that might be a pain.  

We might end up using his regular harness with the swivel tether for our long road trip coming up.  I will definitely bring the impact harness.  I just felt bad that he could not lay down comfortably in it.

Side note: Chewy is awesome. I ordered two of the harnesses (and they are expensive!!) because he was between sizes. When I contacted them to return the one that was too big, they told me to donate it to a local rescue.  

Edited May 31, 2019 by cintinative

[zimom]

We live near 2 major interstates and on FB there are frequent postings about accidents (minor and major) where the dogs were spooked and ran into the woods and are now missing.  A seatbelt prevents this.

We were told this same thing during our training for my daughter's service dog.  A seatbelt may not protect your dog in any other way, but in an accident, if the windows become busted, or the doors open, your dog is going to be stressed or spooked and is just going to run.  At least a seatbelt is going to keep him contained until things calm down enough that you can deal with him.  

[Pen]

I decided to start with a less expensive model (though subsequently found one I think might be better than what I ordered) that isn’t crash tested (that top one in article won’t fit him anyway) —  but that might be more comfortable and easier to put on.  

Most of our trips that the dog goes on are close, like “Mom can you drive me over to / pick me up from SoandSo’s” and dog goes too— so speed / ease of getting dog into a restraint would help to not be 15 minutes of dressing dog for a 15 minute trip. 

It should at least keep him from poking forward in the center console or exiting when not supposed to.  Or as others posted running off in fear from a minor crash. 

I think in my vehicle, attachment points should be the latch bars for child seats, and that a dog tether should just stay there all the time— but am not sure I got a right type of tether to use those.  

I ordered an over headrest type tether before realizing that some tethers are made for the latch bars. 

Not sure if I should use top of seat latch bar or metal things at back bottom of seat or both.  

The harness has both front chest and back shoulders area attachment points and I’m not sure which of those would be better .  Seems like maybe front attachment point where in crash if it held at all, back end of dog would tend to hit things while head would be toward the padded seat.  

. 

[Pen]

15 hours ago, cintinative said:

We recently bought this: https://www.chewy.com/kurgo-impact-car-safety-dog-harness/dp/142841

We used it last weekend.  A few notes:

It really only allows the dog to sit comfortably. Lying down doesn't work so well because the harness is very stiff and hard so the legs don't lie on each other like they would normally  (hopefully that makes sense)  This harness has been independently crash tested to 140 lbs.  

The way this works is there are loops on the back of the harness and the seat belt goes through those.  He really didn't get tangled in his own belt--he did sort of almost get tangled in the boys' belts.

We also got this: https://www.chewy.com/kurgo-swivel-seat-belt-tether/dp/56750

The idea of it was to help him be able to lie down easier--but see the problem above with the harness. He could lay down but was not super comfortable.

The reason we got it is that my dog likes to go in the front and stand and/or go back and forth between the front and back and we don't want to him to be hurt if there was an accident. Usually he is riding with my sons in the back seat so we don't want him to be a projectile either.  

One issue I can see with this for our long trip is that we would prefer to use his easy walk harness when just taking him on walks, and this impact harness is not as easy to get on and off. It must be loosened in multiple places and then he has to step out. From a safety standpoint, this makes a ton of sense. If you are going to be getting in and out of the car often and need to change the harness each time, that might be a pain.  

We might end up using his regular harness with the swivel tether for our long road trip coming up.  I will definitely bring the impact harness.  I just felt bad that he could not lay down comfortably in it.

Side note: Chewy is awesome. I ordered two of the harnesses (and they are expensive!!) because he was between sizes. When I contacted them to return the one that was too big, they told me to donate it to a local rescue.  

 

Thanks. This review helped me to decide on an easier to use harness.   If we ever plan a really long trip I might get him a more sturdy one like that Kurgo , but I think  ease of use will mean more use.  

[G5052]

I bought one that is similar and was supposedly crash-tested.

But...our dog is terrified of car rides. I'm not sure why. So I hold her in my lap. She still wimpers some, but it's not the all-out wails we had when we tethered her to a seat. She had her annual check-up last week and did fairly well. On the way back we stopped for ice cream, and she didn't cry at all.

[Pen]

30 minutes ago, G5052 said:

I bought one that is similar and was supposedly crash-tested.

But...our dog is terrified of car rides. I'm not sure why. So I hold her in my lap. She still wimpers some, but it's not the all-out wails we had when we tethered her to a seat. She had her annual check-up last week and did fairly well. On the way back we stopped for ice cream, and she didn't cry at all.

 

Mine have all adored car rides except for one who got car sick.    Maybe frequent trips for ice cream would help.  🙂

 

[Pen]

@cintinative

what we got isn’t on the crash test list, but looks like it might be better than an easy walk in a crash.  Padded chest, easy on off, comfortable, chest attachment for front walking like an easy walk:

 

I’m still working on the tethers.

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Pen

[G5052]

16 hours ago, Pen said:

 

Maybe frequent trips for ice cream would help.  🙂

 

 

That's what a friend of mine said. She had a large dog that was terrified of car rides and got a plain McD's hamburger when they were out. The fears faded away.

My pup remembered the ice cream place last week when we pulled up and was very excited. They provide a "pup cup" with a regular order if you ask. We'll have to go more often!