Seat belt or carrier?

When you take your dog with you somewhere, does he get buckled in with a harness of some sort? Do you put him in a carrier instead? Or do you simply let him roam the vehicle?

Do you know what your local laws are for that?

 

My dog just roams. This is probably not good, but I was not aware of any laws that say this is forbidden.

 

I took my Mishka to the vet the other day and completely forgot I had bought a seatbelt harness this year online. doh! I remembered on the way. It is not compulsory for dogs to be harnessed but they now need to be tied some way on the back of utes/pickup trucks.

 

Crate... of course, there are times that we just have them leashed when we visit the vet clinic because they seem to stay still while the vehicle is moving. Here's a picture of Buchi enjoying a tricycle ride.


Source

He's quite the obedient chap.

 

I always put my Homer in a carrier. If I didn't, he would try to jump on my knees or just randomly run and it might cause an accident since I couldn't focus on anything. He hates the carrier but there is just no other option.

 

I have to be honest we don't restrain our dogs, and this may not be a good thing when I think about it. They don't travel too often except when its time to go to the Vet. When this occurs we put them in the back seat with a leash on them and have them lay down in the back. Once again, I know this isn't the safest thing to do with your dog.

 

I never restrained my Lab. But, she was good in the car. She went in the back seat and she stayed there.

Misha rides in her crate. I think it would be dangerous for us all if she roamed free. Plus, she is so small, she'd probably get thrown around the back of the car. I put a blanket in her crate. Often times, she falls asleep before we get to our destination.

I don't know the local law. I don't think we have one except pertaining to pickup trucks. The dog must be tethered if riding in the back of a truck. There is a state on the East Coast that is considering a seat belt law for dogs. I forget which.

 

My dog doesn't roam because the car is way too small. But he'll usually sit in one place with his head in my lap if I'm in the back with him. Otherwise he'll lay in the back seat calmly enough. I'd like to buckle him in but I don't think he'd take to that too well.

 

My dog doesn't even allow me to put him in the car! As soon as I try he starts to cry and shake. When I do need to bring him places though, he roams. Although all he does is try to play with me while I'm driving - so my boyfriend and I have decided that he will only be allowed into the car if my boyfriend is there to hold him, lol. Does anyone else have an issue with their dog needing to pee halfway through driving to your destination?

 

I never knew they made car harnesses for dogs, but that makes more sense I suppose - when I originally read this thread I couldn't imagine how a standard seat belt would hold a dog in place. They would wiggle out of that in a second, lol. We always let our dogs roam free in the car, but mainly because they were a bit too big to be squeezed into a little cage like that.

Most of the time, when we had them in the car, it was specifically to get them out of the house for a while and to go get an ice cream and/or see the cow, horses and other animals at the farms near us. But we would never roll our windows down low enough that they could climb out. I'll be honest, that really makes me nervous when people let their dogs hang out of the car like that. I've seen videos of dogs leaping out of moving cars, I'm always worried they are going to get hurt.

 

I haven't taken my dogs anywhere in a car so the question of belts or carriers do not arise. What I have done is take them for rides on my tricycle. Then they sit in the side car with their leashes on. I don't want them suddenly jumping off to chase after passing cats. When I take them, one at a time, for a ride on the motorcycle, I also put them on a leash for the same reason. Better to be safe than sorry. There are also times when I take the smaller ones out by just putting them in a sling bag with just their heads peeking out.