Traveling with your pet

jeffmossy

jeffmossy

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Our dog travels on the rear bed at the back of the van , but the law says it should be restrained .

Highway code Rule 57
When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves, if you stop quickly. A seat belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or dog guard are ways of restraining animals in cars.

How do you travel with your dog ?
 
I was going to ask that because we have only two seats in the van
 
Our two immediately go on their bed which lives between the seats on the floor. We do not have any more than driver/passenger seat belts and I am unconvinced any clip in harness would not injure an animal. tge regulations for restraining children are very tight compared to adults and the size of our dogs would put them in toddler category.

My opinion is they are safer where they are and until a court appearance forces me to do otherwise that is how they will stay. For me this comes under the heading of common sense. Not sure I have the same common sense when I stuff the metal grill pan under the duvet or the TV set though ha ha
 
The main point of this is to ensure that they will not escape from the vehicle and cause havoc on the highway in the event of an accident. A secondary consideration is that they shouldn't be thrown about too much and either harm the humans or themselves. A shortish lead attached to a harness on the dog and to some secure point on the van will achieve all that and still allow the hound to move about a bit to get comfy.
 
I currently have that headache at the moment. We have just taken on 2 rescue Whippets and I have to figure out how to travel with them. We always had the Pug and Jack Russell in a cage attached to the rear seat belts. I am looking at installing a bigger cage for the Whippets and trying a lashing strap somehow in a similar fashion. The old Whippet we have just lies on the bench seat behind the passenger seat which is relatively a safe place.

We had planned a short trip over the bonfire weekend (somewhere quiet and peaceful) but I cannot drive the van at the moment (or do any mods) due to a hand injury
 
We were thinking of putting her in between the front seats as like nabsim we only have the two front seats we will put her bed down in between so she will be comfortable and I might look at something to secure her to the front seats I think ?
 
We will look into one of those Graham and hopefully she’ll go into it!
 
My mate Zak has a cages at home, one in the bedroom and one in the lounge, same as in the van, he comes and goes as he pleases except when I have to do domestic trivia like shopping. All he sees is his bed ;)

If she isn't used to a cage of any sort it may take a while ... When Zak first came from the Rescue (RSPCA) I just left the cage open with a bed in it, occasionally chucked one or two treats in it ... next thing I noticed was that he was asleep ...in the bed in the cage ;)
 
My concern is that if pets are not restrained and then if you are involved in an accident .... 21 kgs of dog (Oscar) and 13 (Corrie) art lethal missiles! Not to mention the injuries they would sustain when they fly forward to hit the dash or windscreen. We use fleece lined harnesses which go around their chest ... really reduces the risk of hurt to them.

Tried a soft crate, but Oscar burst through it! But then he bent the metal on the steel crate at the weekend to get out!
 
We have a harness for Taya with a seatbelt clip she used to travel on the front passenger but she has decided she prefers under the table on her bed but still clipped to the seatbelt.
 
I think a harness with a clip on is the way to go , I would not like to use the lead clipped on to something , if you did have a accident and the dog got thrown forward then it would break its neck :cry:
 
jeffmossy said:
Our dog travels on the rear bed at the back of the van , but the law says it should be restrained .

Highway code Rule 57
When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves, if you stop quickly. A seat belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or dog guard are ways of restraining animals in cars.

How do you travel with your dog ?
Click to expand...
A harness is a must for any dog/cat etc and cages should be fixed to availabe tie downs or where possible.
 
Never clip just a collar to a seatbelt there is an horrific video that appeared on face ache last year filmed on an onboard camera when a car crashed and the dog just had a collar it was horrendous.
 
Campervanannie said:
Never clip just a collar to a seatbelt there is an horrific video that appeared on face ache last year filmed on an onboard camera when a car crashed and the dog just had a collar it was horrendous.
Click to expand...
Oooo I don't want to watch that Video Annie
 
jeffmossy said:
Oooo I don't want to watch that Video Annie
Click to expand...
No it was one of those that pop up and before you realise what it’s about it’s over but thankfully it stopped short of the blood and guts bit and then I think it was removed.
 
I don't think anyone has suggested not using a harness and just clipping the lead to the collar! Perish the thought.

I did try a cage for Reg but he hated it and tried to chew his way out - in 15 mins there was blood everywhere and broken wires. Plus it took up all the floor space in the van.
 
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