Have dogs, will travel

I just got a new vehicle and am trying to decide the best way to take the girls with me. How do you contain your dog(s) when in a vehicle??

 

We used to use a crate in the back of our hatch-back car. Then I used one of those harness thingies that you can attach a seatbelt to and Nala rode up front in the passenger seat. Now I have a barrier behind the back seat and the dogs stay loose in the hatch. I do worry about that arrangement, though, if we were ever in an accident. I think they say being in a crate is the most safe way to travel.

 

I use a crate mostly, except for my Rott, I was lucky that I could her in the car never mind her crate (I had a Hyundai accent), she fit just nicely all along the back seat.

 

The crate is probably the best idea, huh? But if you flip, the dogs still might fly around. I have a loop thing that the seatbelt goes through and then hooks to the collar or harness, but I can't find another one. I tried a seatbelt-harness, but it didn't seem to work with those looooong bodies lol.

 

I dont know any statistics on this but I have a friend whos dad is a CHP cop and hes said that some of the car wrecks hes seen, some where everyone in the car has either been killed or seriously injured, dogs included, the one that often comes out of it with just minor injuries if any are dogs that are in crates like Vari-kennel type, Ive heard similar from a couple of paramedics I know. I know they are not indestructible though.

 

Well that's a good testiment for the crate. I think that'll be the choice for me since I have a cargo area now.

 

If I go on a long ride, I put Luther in his crate, but lately he has been so scared of it, so i'll let him out half way, but he has always like to get up under the drivers seat, which I think makes him feel the safest. On short trips around town or to the river, I put him in the cargo area, I am thinking about getting one of those seperators though.