Currently have a little Ford Fiesta, with no option to change car for a few months. Hunter has always travelled in a crate in the boot but he is getting too big for it, and a bigger crate wont fit in my boot. I have the option to either buy a guard for the back seats so he can't access the rest of the car and put him into the boot, or buy a seatbelt thing for his harness and have him on the back seat. I'm just wondering which is the best option here? Thank you.
My preference would be the dog guard in the back. Purely down to what happens when you leave the dog in the car: If they are on the back seat in a seat-belt harness, I don't like how there is the possibility they could get tangled up in the seat-belt or harness attachment thing - if they twist round and round in circles (trying to see out of windows etc), it can be quite dangerous and they can tie their legs up or even strangle themselves. So then the only option is to unclip the harness when you leave them in the car alone - and if you have a dog AT ALL destructive, that's not a good idea either because they can then eat your entire car. Not to mention raid glove compartments, eat sugar-free chewing gum and de-icer and anything else you have in the car....(!). So - safe secure containment in the boot is the best option when the dog is unsupervised in the car, so it's my preference for travel too.
Fab thanks Jo, that was what I was leaning towards anyway. My only question is how to stop the dog bolting from the boot as soon as its opened?
For that, you'll need a tailgate guard. A dog guard and tail gate guard is the alternative to a cage.
Give your sit stay or drop stay cue while the tail gate is still closed. If the dog gets up, just close the gate rather than continuing with the opening. I take it that the British word for the parcel shelf is boot. For a moment I thought you were putting your dog in the boot/trunk (no windows).
We don't leave our Maggie in the car at all by herself and we use the seatbelt attachment with her harness. It works great and she learned very quickly to just sit or lay down on the seat. She has had it since she was just 9 weeks old and we have never had a problem with tangle. Just FYI. She is 5 months old now
Never had a problem with tangling of seatbelt harness and I have a very hyperactive dog. It has to be said he much prefers jumping in the boot of my partner's car than onto the back seat of my car but I think thats because I've taken him to kennels in my car a few times which he hates. Back seat is far safer in the event of a crash.
Agree that the dog needs teaching to wait and not get up and leave the car until requested. The parcel shelf if the shelf above the boot. The boot is the back of the car accessed through the rear door. Trunk in the US. When a dog is placed on the boot, the parcel shelf is removed.
