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Car Travel!?


stefanie_jane

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So today, I had to take Shiloh to the vet in my car, which is a mini ... I was in denial about my boot size haha

It wouldn't be so bad if she just laid down! Also, she will soon be too big and as well as that, it's such a small space that if someone crashed into the back of me, she would probably be in a bad way, so it's really not the safest.

We do have an estate as well, but I can't drive it.

so I was wondering if anyone uses a car harness and how their dogs are with being strapped in to them? And can anyone recommend a good one?

I'm worried that she would wiggle her way out and distract me whilst driving though, but over the summer, I can only transport her in the mini as the boyfriend will be away. So I need to find a good way to have her in the car!

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I don't have one because it's not available where I live, but I recommend you getting one of them barriers you put on your boot. A harness might be useful for calm travelers like my boy, but if Shiloh is very active she might not like being strapped and chew her way out :lol: 

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We have a guard for the boot, it's fine in the estate, but not the mini haha I have it in there at the moment, but i think it's just too small a space for her, especially if we were to ever have an accident. Plus she won't fit in the mini's boot for long haha

But yes, I did think that the harness might be a problem as she is a wriggler haha and she did chew her old walking harness!

I'm not really sure how else to drive her places in the mini, safely!

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I know nothing about cars nor am I interested in them, but is there a special way to drive an estate car? I thought if you can drive one type of car, then you can drive every other type there is? Or is there another reason why you can't drive the estate? :o  Don't you simply put your foot down and steer left and right? 

 

 

 

Do I sound stupid? 

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We have a car harness for Harry, not sure of the make will have to go and look.

 

It's a bit of a faff getting him into it but once on it's great!  basically there is a strap which clips onto the harness and then the other end of the strap clips into the seat belt stalk, so he can lay down, sit up, do whatever but not jump into the front on me :)

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I'm not insured to drive it, and also it's very big!

It's me being stupid, not you! haha it would cost quite a bit more to insure me on it. But also I'm so used to small cars, and we drive a lot on country roads, and the thought of a big car is terrifying. I had to move it out of a parking space, and I could barely reach the pedals haha I'm a bit on the short side!

We have a car harness for Harry, not sure of the make will have to go and look.

 

It's a bit of a faff getting him into it but once on it's great!  basically there is a strap which clips onto the harness and then the other end of the strap clips into the seat belt stalk, so he can lay down, sit up, do whatever but not jump into the front on me :)

Oh that's good! I didn't realise they would be able to lay down as well with it on. That might make it more appealing for her, because at least she could still move.

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Not having much room is definitely safer than loads of room - there last thing you want in any incident is a dog bouncing around (that's why we have seatbelts and airbags - to prevent movement!). But don't the back seats fold down on a Mini (they did when I had one - before I had dogs)? If I remember correctly, not very usefully but you could easily then fit a dog guard. But nowadays we have a larger boot but also put dogs on the back seats - luckily they're leather so fur doesn't get stuck in any fabric (occasionally muddy but easily cleaned!)

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You can buy car harnesses at any pet shop or on line, the only problem we've had is that solo can undo the seat belt bit, he undid both him and charlie !!!!!!! Solved it by putting the seat cover (for when they muddy) on before putting them in. He also likes the window open and woowoos until we do lol.

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You might want to do some research on dog harnesses. There was a story run on Good Morning America recently, the story stated that many dog harnesses sold in pet stores could not hold up in a simulated car crash. The results of some of the harnesses were devastating! They did have a few that did their job though! Good luck!

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