There is nothing more adorable than a dog riding in the drivers seat, head out the window, taking in all the sights and smells! Sadly, this cute scenario can also be quite dangerous for your pooch and yourself! Studies are beginning to show that having a dog on a driver’s lap can impair the driver’s ability to react to traffic situations. There was even a recent case in New Jersey where a dog is being blamed for the driver losing control of the car.
So how can you drive safely with your pet? There are a number of ways… For a cat, always keep them in a cat carrier when driving them around. I would try buckling the seatbelt around their crate, or wedging the crate between the front and back seats. If the vehicle is in an accident, an unsecured crate can easily fly out a window the same way an unbuckled passenger could!
For dog transport there are several options:
- If your dog is very small, you can crate them like you would with a cat
- If your dog is bigger, you can buckle them in the backseat with a special “seatbelt harness”
- If you don’t want to pay the hefty price for a seatbelt harness, they also make a cheaper seatbelt tether that hooks from the seatbelt to their regular harness
Although riding with Fido on your lap might be fun for both of you, it can also be quite dangerous. We never want to think that we could be in an accident, but try to think about what might happen to your pet if you were in a collision! We treat them like part of our family, so lets buckle them up like we would with our children!
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