Dog and cars

[Frazzled2207]

Hi dog people
We are at the very early stages of looking into dog breeds/rescues - dog is realistically about a year away at least, and in the meantime we are shopping for a new car with a future dog in mind (also need a bigger one anyway, not just for the dog). Anyway having not had a dog since I was growing up in the 90s and the dog would mostly happily sit on the passenger seat (with her head flapping out the window), just wondering what most dog people do with their dog in the car.
We are looking for a car with a decent boot and so most commonly I think the dog will mostly be there. Aware that in an ideal world they will be in a crate in the boot however few cars have boots big enough for this unless the dog is very small. So do your dogs sit 'loose' or harnessed in the boot?
Also wondering if we go on holiday with the dog we will need the boot for luggage. in this case would it be feasible/legal to have the dog either on the back seat (likely between two sons) or in a footwell? We have two growing boys too so some kind of crate in back seat unlikely to work.
thanks!

My two have seatbelt harnesses and sit on the back seat rather than in the boot.

Dogs in crash proof crates in boot of car. Use a car roof box if going on holiday.

Loads of estate cars have boots big enough for crates in back of car.

My dog is small so sits on the back seat wearing a harness affixed to the isofix on the frame. He is 11kg and I would say he's about the biggest dog you'd want squeezed between two humans on a long journey!

I believe it is a legal requirement for dogs to be restrained in cars. Mine have always had attachments for their harnesses that clip in tbe seat belt.

Dogs need to be secure in transit just like humans do, my preferred option is a crash tested crate in the boot, when we used to go away we had a luggage bag for the roof.

Mine are behind a model specific pet guard. I have a divider so they can be separated but I generally don’t use it. For longer journeys, one will generally be harnessed in the back seat.
I have found the harnesses which plug into seat belts to be pretty useless as my dogs can release them, so they are anchored to the child seat anchors with a short leash thing which then attaches to the back of the harness. They are labs.

Mine either travels in a crate (people carrier!) or uses a harness on the back seat

Dogs have to be restrained by law - you can get points/a fine if not, and it can invalidate your insurance if you're in an accident and the dog was loose.

Mine sits either on the front/back seats (with the airbag switched off) and he has a seatbelt attachment that goes around the headrest and clips onto his harness. I'm also a dog walker and the dogs I walk either sit on the backseats in seatbelts, or in the boot with a guard up and they're attached to the tether points.

Blimey@ coffeecupsandfairylights does your business insurance cover you for transporting clients dogs not in a crate?

I have to have mine crated.

Dog in a crate in the boot.

roof box when we need to take lots of stuff.

No way do I fancy our dog flinging about on a flimsy piece of seatbelt if we had a crash! plus I’d find it distracting if they were moving about and I need the seats for dc

Thanks for these.
those that have crates in boots which cars do you have?

Ours have harness and seat belt. 2 of them travel with us to Scotland (8 hour trip up) no problem.

Keep an eye for Aldi ddoggy seat cover.. Priced at 25 quid in other shops but a fiver in there! Been invaluable for our 4!!

Fiesta
ibiza
ford kuga
more recently vw tourag

Yes - as long as they're secured in some way it's fine.

My car is too small for crates as I only take 2-3 dogs at once.

I know you don't mean it like that but:

Dog in a crate in the boot.

roof box when we need to take lots of stuff

has left me with the image of a dog - spaniel for some reason - with his head sticking through the roof box on top of the car, mouth agape with his ears flapping in the wind.

I've had a bit of a rotten day but this made me smile. Thank you.

Mine sit on the back seat with an Orvis cover over it, and they have harnesses and seatbelt clips. I've got a VW T roc and couldn't get a crate big enough to fit - our sprocker is very tall!

You can get crates designed to fit you boot so it doesn’t matter too much which car you have as you look for the make and mode to fit. The barjo crates are popular because they are crash proof, have an escape hatch in the back and are lockable. We use a mix of seatbelt harness and put them in the boot. We use the Travall boot system which has a divider across half the boot, still leaving room for some luggage. You can also get tailgate to stop the dog jumping straight out.

When we were shopping for a new car, knowing the dogs would be in the boot, I asked about all the safety specs. I told the salesman that my dogs would be in the boot so how safe would they be if we were read ended, he said he’d never gone through the safety specs for the boot before 😂However, we knew the dogs would sometimes be on the backseat, sometimes in the boot, sometimes one in the back and one in the boot so we wanted a removable system. Whilst the barjo crate is removable, it’s not removable in the sense of easy to take in and out so I wanted a safe boot.

You can get crates designed to fit you boot so it doesn’t matter too much which car you have as you look for the make and mode to fit.

You can, but some boots are still too small to fit a crate for anything more than a medium sized dog. I can fit a small (around 12-15kg) dog in my boot in a crate, but anything bigger and I have to faff about moving seats, taking crates/cages in and out etc.

I had a Variocrate (which is crash tested with a rear escape hatch) in the boot of my Fiesta and my collie travelled quite happily in it.