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The doghouse

Where do your dogs sit in the car?

29 replies

Ineedmorepatience · 21/04/2014 19:10

I grew up with dogs who always travelled in the front footwell of the car but now that we are planning to get our own dog I am wondering where is the best/safest place for it to travel.

Thanks in advance Smile

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SweepTheHalls · 21/04/2014 19:13

In the boot! He wouldn't fit anywhere else though Smile

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Loveleopardprint · 21/04/2014 19:14

My dog has a seatbelt harness and normally is in a towel on the back seat. If she is really muddy she goes in a travel crate in the boot that folds down when I don't need to use it.

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MistletoeBUTNOwine · 21/04/2014 19:15

The boot Grin
He's a big lab tho

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bakingtins · 21/04/2014 19:19

In a crate fixed in the boot of our estate car, or (less often) behind a dog guard in the boot of our hatchback.
I think on a back seat secured with a harness attached to a seatbelt is also ok.
Unsecured anywhere in the car is a disaster/accident waiting to happen. I've treated several dogs injured as passengers in RTAs.

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TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 21/04/2014 19:19

Old dog is in the boot
Puppy is in a crate in the back
We have a 7 seated though

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tabulahrasa · 21/04/2014 19:20

Back seat with a harness...that's because he's too big for the boot.

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Ineedmorepatience · 21/04/2014 19:22

Thanks, I think we will start off with a harness on the back seat and see how we go from there. I have a largish car but we often use the seats in the boot so we need a alternative Smile

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pigsDOfly · 21/04/2014 19:23

My dog has a clip that attaches to her harness at one end and to the car seat belt at the other.

I feel happy that she's safely attached that way. I know an awful lot of people who let their dogs flap around in the car completely unrestrained - one person I know has one on the back seat and one on her lap - terrifies me to think what would happen in an accident.

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LottieJenkins · 21/04/2014 19:26

Bumbledog has a harness and a dog seatbelt in the back of the car. He used to sit with me in the back until the time he got his head wedged between the seat and where you pull the seatbelt down. My sister was then about to drive round a double bend and the passenger seat started shaking! She was not amused in the least and steps were swiftly taken!!

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surroundedbyblondes · 21/04/2014 19:39

We have our dog in a crate in the boot. It has been necessary to use a roof box for getting all the luggage in when travelling on longer trips, especially when we have had buggies for the DDs, but it's totally worth it in our opinion. DDog started off a nervous passenger but treats the crate as her own space and is now quite calm in there. It's as natural for us to crate her in the car as it is to put the DC in car seats.

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lainiekazan · 22/04/2014 11:25

Well, I was pretty ambivalent about it until someone I know had a terrible accident when their dog jumped out of the footwell without warning. They crashed and spent three months in hospital with internal injuries.

My dog wears a dog seatbelt in the back.

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MonstersBalls · 22/04/2014 11:27

In the boot. She's usually far too muddy to be allowed anywhere near the seats!

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YouLoveItDoreen · 22/04/2014 11:34

DDog is in a crate in the boot of our car, we had to get a bigger car as she slid about in the boot of our hatchback and the crate didn't fit, she now loves travelling and DS sings songs to her and she will happily sleep on long journeys.

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unintentionalthreadkiller · 22/04/2014 13:23

In the boot if buggy and other stuff isn't in there, otherwise in middle seat on a harness and dog seatbelt in between DCs.

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basildonbond · 22/04/2014 13:26

Has anyone got recommendations for car harnesses which Houdini pup can't wriggle out of in 5 seconds flat? Eve tried two now :( we can't fit a crate in the car easily as we have a 7 seater which doesn't really have a proper boot

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Owllady · 22/04/2014 14:13

Back seat on harness

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Owllady · 22/04/2014 14:18
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spinnergeologist · 22/04/2014 14:19

We still use front footwell due to dog being travel sick, too large for a crate in the boot and the position of the carseat in the back.

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nowahousewife · 22/04/2014 14:24

In the back of SUV behind the dog grill. But his favourite car is mine in summer sitting in the passenger seat when I've got the roof down - he doesn't half get some admiring glances!

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tabulahrasa · 22/04/2014 14:38

That one and that one are the only crash tested ones I know of.

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WeAllHaveWings · 22/04/2014 17:28

On back seats with a car hammock at first, but very messy with mud etc. seats were damp, doors etc muddy, hair everywhere, not ideal. Also distracting.

Got new car which is an estate and he's in boot now, much better.

If you plan to do more than odd visit to vets I would go for the boot every time now.

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starsandunicorns · 22/04/2014 17:33

Back seat with harness

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Floralnomad · 22/04/2014 17:55

Mine sits on the backseat on his blanket with a harness ,he loves the car and is in it several times a week . If its wet/muddy he sits in an old coat that I adapted into a type of dog bag so he drys by the time we get home and the seats don't get wet/muddy.

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Eastpoint · 22/04/2014 18:04

In a crate in the boot if we are travelling for more than 15 minutes. It's a big crate but it fits both of them and as our younger dog is often travel sick it's good to have the vomit contained. I watched a programme in which police were trying to catch a dog who had escaped after an accident and decided I didn't want to go through that. Our local journeys are all on roads with a speed limit of 30 (and as we're in London that's optimistic).

Where do your dogs sit in the car?
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LottieJenkins · 22/04/2014 19:33

My Houdini undid his harness by standing on it three times tonight on a seven mile journey to agility! Once ten yards from the house, once three miles from home and lastly on the farm drive as we arrived! Not amused!

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