Car safety with large breed

[AllFreeOwls]

Our dog is approaching his 1st birthday and is around 50kg.

When in the car we have been using a connector that clips onto his harness and into the seatbelt clip on the backseat and he always site nicely.

However he is now strong enough to pull the end out of the seatbelt clip. He still sits nicely in the back but it means he's not secure or restrained.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a more secure way to restrain a large & strong dog in the back of a car?

You can get seatbelts that go over the head rests - would that be any good?

I plug into the seatbelt, but then have a guard behind the driver seats just in case

For a dog that size you really want either a vehicle specific fitted crate or at the least a strong fitted dog guard (not a flimsy wire type)

in an accident or even just an emergency stop, he’d kill someone in a seat in front of him if loose.

you do get a few crash tested harnesses, but ones for that weight are very hard to find.

We have a grille behind the back seats that fits by tightening rubber pads against the roof and floor. It safely held the combined weight of two dogs (about 60kg) when I was rear-ended. The impact caused the car to be written off - the boot floor was buckled, never mind the state of the rear door.

Until you sort out a grille or crate, I'd get a 2nd strap to clip into the seatbelt on the other side too- so he'd have 2 seatbelts clipped onto his harness at once. (If that makes sense?)

Thank you all! I think I'm going to start with trying 2 seatbelt clips at once, see if that keeps him secure.
If that fails then I guess I'll need to change my car and get one I can put a big crate in (mine has a weird boot shape and the back seats don't last flat so I can't get a crate in there).

m.youtube.com/watch?v=pIHrDdu_bVE

that’s what happens with dogs in crashes, and bear in mind it’s not just the dog, it’s the person it also goes into as well.

honestly, I wouldn’t use a strap on a dog anywhere near that size.

Those clip things are useless for a dog that size.

You knew the breed you bought. You knew it would get big. You should have planned ahead.

You really need a fitted crate in the boot. But at the very least, have a grille fitted (a proper one).

No way would I have a dog of that size on a seat belt harness.

As the others have said the dog needs to be behind a grille or in a crash tested crate. I woud not have the dog in the car until that has been sorted.

Even in a small accident 50kg of dog flying around the car will be a killer (to the dog and the other occupants of the car)

Our very large dog goes in the boot. He is too large for a crate in the boot so we have a reinforced grill behind the seats.

Proper fitted dog guard, one screwed in for a dog of that weight and a tail gate guard. Barjo do them or mmgguards which are made to measure. Mimsafe do good ones too.

Remember to look for a crash tested crate.

I use a van to transport my giant breed dog around. In a crate.

Cars are not big enough, tbh...

My dog weighs in at around 57kgs.

We already used a cabin crew van before getting our family pet so no extra costs. A car wouldn't be big enough for our dog to be transported around in.