If you’re a dog lover, you probably always take your dog with you when you’re traveling. Whether on a short trip to the mall or a weekend road trip with the family, it is necessary to keep your dog secure and safe inside your vehicle, as well as yourself.

Any travel with pets can easily distract a driver. There are also laws that you may not be aware of about restraining them while you’re on the road. Not only is it against the law for your dog to be unsecured during the ride but it’s also dangerous for both of you. There are also instances when your insurance claim will be rejected because of this in case of an accident.

If you’re planning to drive with your dog in tow, make sure that your beloved pet is well restrained. There are safety equipment available today such as a dog booster and seat belt that can ensure a smooth joy ride with your fur buddy.

Unsafe Places For Dogs To Seat

• Driver’s lap. Letting your dog sit on your lap while you’re driving can distract you. He can block your view of other drivers and the road ahead of you, especially if your pet likes to lean over the window.
• Your vehicle’s passenger seat. You’re putting your dog at risk if you let him ride on your car’s passenger seat. In case of a crash, he can get injured by the vehicle’s airbag meant for human protection. If your dog has to sit next to you, you should restrain him properly using a seat belt specially designed for dogs.

What’s A Dog Seat Belt?

A dog seat belt is a full-body safety harness to restrain your pet well. It comes with a buckle for your vehicle’s seat belt to click through. In case an accident occurs, or you suddenly change speed, your dog will be pulled on his back and chest just like with a leash, but the force on his neck is reduced. This safety precaution is ideal for larger breeds.

However, not all dog seat belts are equally created, and some can send your pet flying off your car’s seat. Make sure that when buckling the straps, it is short enough not to send him plunging into the back of the front seat, but also long enough so he can sit and lie down comfortably. Also, look for a seat belt with straps that are thick and padded so that force of the impact is widely distributed.

What’s A Dog Car Seat?

A dog car seat works just like a dog seat belt but is suitable for small to medium breeds of dogs. The main idea is to boost your dog up to a level where he can enjoy and see around him while keeping him safe and secure.

Dog booster seats are comfortable dog beds designed like a child safety seat that can be held in place using your car’s seat belt. They also feature full-body harnesses to keep your pet safe in sudden speed changes or accident.

How To Choose A Dog Booster

You have to be very careful when looking for a dog booster seat. There are some available that are only dog beds modified as a car seat that offers little protection. Look for one that you can securely attach to the seat belt of your vehicle, as well as a sturdy harness that securely fastens to your furry friend. Some models include leash clasps that you can attach to your pet’s own harness. To avoid getting your dog strangled, do not hook this up to his neck collar.

Another thing worth considering is the seat’s material type. Some materials can make your pet itch, so choose one that’s very comfortable. If you think the dog booster seat is not comfortable enough, you may consider purchasing an accessory pad. Also, look for an easy-to-clean seat especially if your dog loves to swim and walk on dirt.

To ensure you purchase the best dog booster seat, you must read reviews of the one you’re eyeing. Make sure to weigh in its pros and cons, and do some research on available accessories if necessary. A dog car seat keeps your pet safe and in place when you’re traveling. Since your dog is part of the family, taking the time to pick a booster seat is of utmost importance to ensure he’s safe, secure, and at the same time comfortable.

If you like to travel, it can be really difficult to do so when you have to leave your dog behind. Dogs are an important part of our lives, part of our families, and leaving them somewhere for a week or so, especially if you don’t know the place, can take some of the fun out of your trip. That is why it is becoming more and more common for people to take their dogs with them. However, you do have to be concerned about the health and safety of your dog when you are traveling.

When you take your pup on the road, you have to plan for everything, including where you will stay, how you will keep your dog busy, and where he will sleep at night.

Instead of finding a pet sitter or boarding your dog, try to include him in the choices that you make when it comes to travel.

Know That It Takes Time

It is important to understand that planning for your trip will take longer when you have to take your pet into consideration. You will have to do more research into everything you do, from where you stay to where you eat. Even if something says that it is animal friendly online, you may want to call and make sure that your dog is welcomed there – especially if you have a bigger dog. It is worth it to take this extra step rather than get somewhere and find out that your dog isn’t welcome.

Take Care of Small Details First

If you want to take your dog with you on a trip, you need to take care of some of the small details first. They include:

• Going to the vet to get a clean bill of health
• Updating any vaccinations
• Microchipping your dog
• Ensuring his collar has your information
• Attend basic training classes

By taking care of these little details, you will be able to enjoy yourself that much more.

Getting Where You Are Going

If you travel by air, you are going to have to go through a bunch of hoops – and there are tons of horror stories out there about taking your dog on planes. Some airlines will allow you to take your dog onto the plane with you, especially if you have a service dog or a small dog. However, large dogs almost always have to fly under the plane, which is not a great trip for them.

Often, the best choice will be taking your dog by car. Most dogs have at least ridden in a car a few times, even if it is just to go to the vet. Some dogs will have anxiety when in the car, so taking short trips for a few weeks before your main trip will be helpful. There are some medicines that you can take with you to help calm your dog down, but you should look into more natural options.

One thing you do have to ensure that you have is a dog car seat. This will keep the dog safe (and make him feel secure) and keep you safe as well. When your dog gets bored or anxious, he might want to roam around the car. A dog car seat will keep him in place.

Make a Pack

If you are ready to travel, especially by car, you can pack up everything you need in advance so that you don’t have to make your dog spend anymore time in the car than he needs to spend there. Some of the things you want to include in your pack are: toys, food, treats, blankets, doggy waste bags, crate, medications, medical records, and anything else that will make a hotel room feel like your home.

Stick to the Plan

Before you go on your trip, there are some things you want to plan for – namely, bathroom breaks, water breaks, and some time for your dog to run off some of the energy that he built up while sitting down. You can plan this for rest stops or even parking lots, just make sure that you are careful about other cars and dogs in the area.

Another thing to look for? Animal hospitals or vets along your pathway. You never know when something might go wrong.

The most important thing about traveling with your dog is that you always plan and stay prepared, no matter what. Advanced planning will make it so that you can handle any situation that life throws at you.

The other most important thing that you can do is buy from pre-approved, crash-tested car seats for doggies, no matter where you go or how you travel.

Probably you have planned to travel soon and you’re wondering if it’s possible to bring your trusted pet companion with you for this trip with your dear family. Well, initially you might doubt that it will be safe at all to bring an animal companion with you as it can be quite a stressful experience for you having to look after the kids as well as the possibility of your pet being an added nuisance while inside the vehicle.

• The truth is that you can have fewer worries about this type of situation when you are more likely prepared to understand what can bring comfort to your dog or cat to keep them calm and also at the same time keep you and your passengers safe when you all go on a trip together.
• Now, to ensure a smooth traveling experience with pets, you’ll have to be truly prepared of the possibilities that injuries and accidents can be encountered with your pet while he or she is in inside the car with other people.
• You can begin performing some research on any particular distractions that these animals can cause to help you gauge on what safety precautions and devices you’ll need to install in your car to ensure safe traveling with pets.

Keep in mind as a pet owner is having your dog or cat restrained properly

The initial thing to keep in mind as a pet owner is having your dog or cat restrained properly to a seat or if you have a car that has bigger space it to have him or her place in a crate. More often pet owners prefer their cats and dogs placed on an enclosed carrier or a crate to lessen the injury that their pets and other passengers may incur during a possible vehicular crash.

If you’ll be placing your pet in a crate just ensure that it is a comfortable place where your pet can change positions in case you’re going on a long trip. It should as well allow air through so your pet can comfortably breathe inside the crate.

Now, to prepare your pet companion, you can definitely have him or her come with you on a trial short road trip of drive so the pet can get used to the new experience. Don’t rush your pet into getting strapped or going inside the crate. Let your pet be familiar with the whole experience first before doing what needs to be done to get your pet in place in preparation for your trip.

Once your pet get used to being at the same place in your car whenever you call him or her to come ride in the car with you, you’ll see that your pet will be more relaxed and calm staying at its seat or crate. From here, you can now conclude that you’re pet is ready to travel.

Embed from Getty ImagesTo also have your pet prepared for a long drive on the road, you’ll have to prepare it by scheduling your pet’s meal time. You can might as well begin with the lighter meals prior to departing your place and take note to never feed your pet when you’re already on the go. Be ready with all the things that your furry friend will need throughout your travel time. Having your pet’s own traveling kit prepared beforehand and having them buckled up or restrained properly will absolutely be a great way to lessen your worries when traveling with your pet companion.

Nowadays, nobody can predict what could happen on the streets or on the road. If you love to travel with your pet dog, you should at least consider keeping both of you safe from harm throughout your travel time. Nobody knows when such kind of accidents may occur and who can possibly be affected by these unforeseen events.

To ensure that you get the most out of your traveling experience, you must always look into having seat restraints not only for the younger members of the family but for your pet companions as well.

Take note that there may be a lot of dog seat belts out there to get for your pet, however they are not all meant to give that utmost protection for your pet and all the passengers inside the vehicle. Many companies have already distributed a variety of pet restraints in the market today and they’re not really required to test these restraints on animals or perform a crash test with dummies to prove that their pet restraints are really working, knowing this, should at least alert pet owners to make sure that what they’re obtaining for their pet is really a safety device that they can use for their vehicles.

There are a lot of vehicular injuries from time to time which may or may have not recorded pets being involved.

1. If you want to prevent any lethal injuries for the precious cargos you have inside the car including your pets, they should be properly restrained on a seat with belts and buckle up safely. Probably you have browsed through a variety of pet restraints available online and you’re wondering what could be the best buy for you. Well, in this case we’re not really talking about affordability but functionality and durability is your aim.
2. The good news is that there are certain automotive organizations that came up with an idea to perform research and tests regarding these dog restraints. They wanted to ensure that not only will they be able to offer vehicles where the whole family can travel safely but ones which can as well accommodate the safety of pets who travel with them. By having this idea, they tried and tested a variety of safety designed restraints and most of them failed except for one which showed great performance in keeping fake test dogs restrained.

But before we go into brands, let’s just look into what led to the search of the best restraining belts for dogs. Well, since there are millions of pet owners in the U.S. and they want to ensure that their pets are really safely traveling with them; executives of an automotive company went through the challenge in testing these restraints which mostly ended up in failure except for one restraint which is the Sleepypod’s Clickit Utility Harness.

This dog restraint boasts of its unique features such as the 3-point connection which helps in providing your pet that control for its lower torso. It also has this wide vest that can surely support your pet from having to go to different directions in case you encounter a major or minor vehicular accident. It pays to know what dog seat belts will best work for your pet’s safety. By obtaining the right one, you can ensure that everybody in the car can conveniently travel with no worries.