I have ordered a dog guard. What does puppy lay on or sit on in the back. Do I need something waterproof, some vetbed? Any recommendations? X
We have a plastic boot protector that came with the car and then vetbed. For longer holiday trips we put his bed in too.
Vet bad is great as easily washed and dried. I had a boot liner before I got a crate too but I found the vet bed soaked most things up.
In car crates, I use waterproof crate mats that I can throw on the floor and scrub off with a large yard brush and a bucket of diluted dettol. In the back of my landrover, my dogs just have to rough it on the rubber mat that came with the landy. The mats I use (I have loads of these) are here: http://www.muddypaws.co.uk/dog-beds/waterproof-beds/heavy-duty-waterproof-crate-pad
Here was my solution: I asked my car dealer to cut some custom fit rubber mats that cover the entire back area of the car (nice guy - he actually did it for free). Then I bought a baby mattress from IKEA. It was absolutely the perfect size for my little car plus came with a waterproof zippered cover. Then I popped the whole thing inside a twin-sized cotton duvet cover and -voila - easy to wash and comfy doggie bed for the car!
I have a heavy duty, waterproof boot liner with old car mats & and old bathroom mat on top. But now vet bed is mentioned, that'd be much better. The bathroom mat bunches up. Must order anther piece.
We bought a cheap waterproof-backed picnic blanket and cut little holes in to feed through the headrests/seatbelts to make it fitted on the back seat. Then, if Ella's really wet, I just put a couple of old towels down too
Is there plenty of room for Ella and your son's car seat on the back seats? We have a (small) station wagon and I've wondered whether an adult lab will fit on one seat with a booster seat in the other. Both daughter and dog coexist for now...
Yep, Ella and Nathan fit fine on the back seat together. Nathan's car seat is on one side and Ella has the middle seat and other side seat. She can sit or drop quite comfortably. We have a Rav4 so it's an SUV but not huge. ** edited to say that Ella being on the back seat was our only real option as we needed to put the pram in the boot
We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and I have my two on harnesses either side. There is plenty of room. They have a seat saver with vetbed over the top, and I bought a couple of cheap pillows for them to rest their heads on, too
We have a crate for the two Labs, but the GRs are too tall for it so we have back car seat covers and a car harness for them. In the crate and on top of the seat cover we have vet bed - easy to wash and dry.
If you have to or choose to have your dog on the back seat please consider a harness to restrain them. 25+ kgs of lab flying round the passenger compartment in the unlikely event of an accident isn't going to do anyone any good. I'm only paranoid after a friends toolbox took a trip through the car when he had a minor crash. He was very lucky not to be seriously hurt.
Yes, I've noticed a few places selling seatbelt clips that allow you to clip a normal walking harness into the seatbelt plug for "safe travel". After quite a bit of research, we went with the Sleepy Pod crash tested car harness (https://sleepypod.com/shop/clickit-dog-harness.html)
I'm going to change over to Sleepy Pods, from AllSafe (which are also crash tested, but don't score as well). I think Sleepy Pods are the best on the market. They're still not ideal - I'd rather have a crate, but it's not practical in our car, which is J's work car. My other car is a two-seater, so not an ideal doggy car! There is another vehicle in our future, but I have some researching to do before we get it.
