What do you do when you go for a car ride with your dog? I have one dog that I have always crated for long road trips because she just lays there and sleeps. She hardly ever comes with us on short road trips but when she does, she just lays on my lap.
Zuri is our 3 month old basenji and she likes to lay on my lap when I drive(which I am not a fan of..safety and all) so, I am debating the doggie seatbelt, purchasing another crate to leave in the vehicle or maybe even getting one of those barriers so she stays in the back of the SUV.
I figure since she is young, if I am going to do any of these I should start now.
Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated
Brenda
My personal opinion is crating is best in the car… for safely reasons....
Jazzy tends to get car sick, so I don't crate her when we travel.
She does have a harness/seatbelt that I use, which keeps her safe and allows me to be able to hold up the trash can for her when she gets sick.
She knows to put her head in the can and to vomit into the trash, LOL, so it is a system that works well for us.
When I used to crate her, she vomit in the crate and wind up covered in it by the time we reached our destination.
Sorry to hear that she Jazzy gets car sick but it is incredible how she puts her head in the trash when she is going to vomit. It never stops amazing me how intellegent our B's can be.
Yeah, it's actually pretty funny and always gets a laugh from people who happen to be in the car with us. Sure makes clean-up easy, just have to make sure there is always a plastic bag in the trash can before we leave the house!
If she ever gets sick at home,which seldom happens, she runs to the back door to vomit. If we open the door, she'll run out into the yard. She never throws up anywhere else in the house.
I crate mine in the car too. After Wanda Pooley's accident-I figure is safer. At least if you get into an accident they have minimum amount of space to fall around in. I have thought about the doggy seat belts, but mine would probably eat them!
I have to admit, I don't crate or seat belt Dash. He sits in between the seats, in the back but with his front two feet on the console. Our Beagle usually hides on the floor. She hates the car.
Yes, many of us remember Wanda accident on the way to the Nationals and there were others like it… had the dogs not been crated, chance are they would not have been around... Of course also anyone remember the case of road rage against the Bishon here in California?.... Had that dog been in a crate or at least a doggy seat belt it might still be alive...
I have always used crates.... I know for sure mine would eat the seatbelts... ggg
So next question…what type of crate? The solid ones, made of plastic (or whatever they are actually made of) or is a wire crate ok? and do you attach the crate or just sit it in the car? Curious what other people do....
Zuri doesn't get car sick at this point...but I sure hope she grows up to be smart like Jazzy and throw up outside if she needs to...that's one mess I wouldn't mind not having to clean up!!
Depending on how much time I have and who I am transporting could be either wire or plastic. I bungee cord mine down.
I use wire crates, but that is because they are easy to fold down flat to store if need be… and I think mine like the wire since they can see 360.... also easier to strap down or bunge to something so that they don't "roll" or "fall" over with a quick stop
And another good reason to NEVER have you dog and/or any pet ride loose in your car…. "you" wear a seat belt?... right... and in an accident, like the one that the Gov from NJ was just in... you prevent lots of injury with restraints... he was not wearing his seat belt.... so if you use a seat belt or a crate (secured)... you can reduce injury.... cause you never know....
And I am just as guilty sometimes of not crating mine ever time... but I do know better
Jazzy tends to get car sick, so I don't crate her when we travel.
She does have a harness/seatbelt that I use, which keeps her safe and allows me to be able to hold up the trash can for her when she gets sick.
She knows to put her head in the can and to vomit into the trash, LOL, so it is a system that works well for us.When I used to crate her, she vomit in the crate and wind up covered in it by the time we reached our destination.
It's funny how they get that basenji "sardonic grin" right before they puke!
Thanks for the replies…I guess I will look into it a bit more but at least I have a crate I can bring along for now.
Brenda
If you want Zuri to ride in crate as an adult, you should be crating her on car trips now. I know many people who did not want to crate their puppy on those short car rides as puppies who then had to deal with adult dogs that screamed in the crate because they were not used to it. I crate all of my dogs when they are in the car. I use plastic vari-kennels because those are what fit in my vehicle. I start them as puppies and they all know that if they are going for a ride in the car then they need to hop in their crate. Rally got car sick as a puppy and Sophie has a couple of times but I think she will grow out of it. We give her a round cuddle bed and she seems happy puking onto the bare plastic and staying curled up in her nice puke free cuddle bed.
I agree, starting young is best. Zuri sleeps in her crate overnight and when we go out she is in her crate so it shouldnt' be too difficult to convince her in the car. I want to invest in a better crate for her in the house anyway so I will keep the other in the car all the time. She starts puppy kindergarten soon so there will be weekly car rides for her….a great opportunity to practice.
Brenda
I have to admit, I don't crate or seat belt Dash. He sits in between the seats, in the back but with his front two feet on the console. Our Beagle usually hides on the floor. She hates the car.
Squiggy surfs also with his feet in the back seat. I know I should at least get a harness. He cant do any kind of crate. He freaks out and explodes out the back end. We have worked on this and I have given up
…whether a crate or a harness. Just a small to medium sized plastic type works great and they're so cheap. We use budgie straps to secure ours whether in the back seat (strap it around the rear seat head rests or chid seat latches) or in the back of the SUV. For years we never did, but once we had a baby we started to. Last year I signed one of our Bs up for training. Our first class was without the dogs. We were told we MUST transport the dogs to/from class with a crate or harness. I suppose you could have shown up without one, but after hearing facts like "in just a 30mph crash, a 30lb "loose object" will become a projectile with 900lbs of force," everyone had a crate in their car. Like I said, we do crate ours. Our kids don't like to be in their car seats but we want them to be safe. Same is true for our critters.
I found this story from someone online:
_Posted*-04/03/2007
So Sunday afternoon my friend and I were on our way to Charlotte and we happened to watch a car accident. A car hit the cement divider head first then spun and hit tail first then started to spin into traffic. My friend pulled over and I ran back to the car to check on the driver. She was ok and when the other person who stopped opened the back door, there was a tiny dog, in a carrier freaking out. We were on a major highway and the dog was probably a minature pincher. The lady was, ironically enough, on her way home from bringing her BRAND NEW puppy to get its shots. We put the dog in my friends car to keep it safe, then moved it to the drivers friends car when she showed up.
When we got back into my friends car, we both realized how lucky that woman and her dog were. Both were alive and not hurt (although the woman was clearly in shock). Had that little dog not been in its carrier, it would have jumped out of the car as soon as the womans door opened and been killed by oncoming traffic.
We also realized that neither of us uses a carrier anymore because they are such a hassle. It was a very sobering moment.
_
How scary would it be to see your B running across the interstate (or worse)? I hate to think of it. These stories are usually hard to read, fortunately this one had a happy ending.
Scary lets talk about trying to put my B in the darn car seat/harness…What a mess. Anyone have experience with this thing. He ended up pulling it down off himself. He won and he ended up riding in the front with me.
I concur with CMD…you gotta do something. IMHO I would neve carry a baby in the front seat with me. It's just like human kids...do they like the car seat? No will they cry? Yes So you just let them deal. They will get over it & get used to it. It may be annoying & heartbreaking but it's for their own good.
