Dog Car Safety. 5 Points to Consider to Keep You and Your Dog Safe.

How often do you take your dog with you in the car? When you do so, do you think about the risks to you and your dog?

1. It is not unusual to see dogs hanging their heads out of an open car window whilst the car is in motion. But this can pose a considerable risk to your dog, with the possibility of stones or chippings thrown up by other vehicles hitting your dog in the face. It has also been known for dogs to jump out of car windows, either when the car stops moving or even whilst it is still on the move.

2. If your dog is sitting in the passenger seat and the airbag is deployed this could cause real injury to him.

3. Dogs that are left loose in the car may try to sit on your knee, lick you or otherwise distract you, taking your attention away from the road and putting you, your dog and other road users in danger.

4. A dog that is loose in the car is a danger to himself. There are various statistics but as a guide if you were travelling at only 30mph a dog around 50lb in weight (medium to large) could be catapulted forward with the force the same as nine 12 stone humans (taken from RAC). Think of the consequences if the dog hits you the driver or the windscreen.

5. A dog harness is a great safety item for your dog when travelling in the car. A good dog car harness should have a seat belt restraint system, adjustable straps and swivel fitting which will allow your dog to sit or lie in comfort and also it should be padded to reduce the amount of friction on his body caused by the natural body movement when in transit.

Overall it takes just a couple of minutes to secure your dog and it is time well spent to save you, your passengers and your beloved pet from serious injury. In an RAC survey, 88% of us agreed that the use of dog car harnesses is an important safety measure however, 60% of us had never used a harness/seat belt for our pet. We are a nation of dog lovers and we look after them as we would any other member of our family, don’t we?

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