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Car Travel With A Puppy.


Guest english.ivy
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Guest june.andnovas

I plan on doing a lot of car travel when my pup comes, as I will be having a few weeks at home with her. she's hopefully going to be a g.schnauzer, so a large breed puppy.

As i will be the driver and there is no one to hold her whilst driving, is the safest option to buy a small dog carrier to fit in the hatchback or back seat? until she is big enough to fit into a harness? or is it better to get her used to travelling in a harness as early as possible?

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We have a car harness for our puppy, she's 4 months.

I just attach it to the seat belt in the back seat and she will just lie on the seat, comfy as can be.

I wouldn't have her in the front seat as my car has airbags and if god forbid there was an accident I'd rather her be in the back. I'm sure a crate would be fine but I'd rather get my pup used to the harness while she's young. :laugh:

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Bella always travels in a car harness and always in the back seat. I had her in the front seat once and she was so distracting, trying to lick me and get on my lap (even though she couldn't reach).

If I could get a crate to fit in my sedan, I'd use that though.

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Mort uses a car harness in the back seat - I bought 2 sizes originally a Small and a Large - we had the Small one on the tightest setting when we brought him home from the breeder 3.5 weeks ago and he has grown out of the Small one and is now using the Large one (but again on its tightest setting) .... I thought the Large one should be the right size for him when he is fully grown ... right now he is just over 11 weeks old... but he is a big boy so I'm thinking he might end up in the XLarge one at some stage ....

He makes a couple of grumbles at the beginning but settles quickly down and sleeps for the journey .... and he only goes on the back seat

Edited by FionaC
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Guest june.andnovas

so at what age is it safe to harness a puppy? I'm getting mine between 8-9 weeks and would defiantly prefer to harness from as early as possible. save having to spend money on a small crate!

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Mort was harnessed for the drive home from the breeders and he was a few days short of being 8 weeks old ... he's never traveled in a small crate with us ...

Forgot to add, Mort is a GSP pup so is a large breed... on top of that he is a big pup - at 7.5 weeks he was 5kg and now at 11 weeks he is 10.5kg so he is a lot bigger than many pups out there...

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Guest june.andnovas

great to hear they can be harnessed at such a young age. so i will be on the lookout for a small harness!

also decideded not to crate train either, seeing as i plan on being home for a few weeks I'm pretty sure I can toilet train without one. plan to be mistake free too .. see how i go!

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Guest june.andnovas
Giant schnauzers babies arent small it will fit into a harness but dont rely on all being great.Some can get out of them easy peasy so pick your brand & quality.

All ours are crated normally

i'm defiantly one for spending that little extra on products, so i intend on getting a very good quality harness.

do you have giants?

could someone recommend a good brand of harness for a pup? also what size would a giant schnauzer pup require, in the form of a harness? small or meduim?

all i can do is try her in a harness and see how she reacts.

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I prefer crating Kaos and harness for Diesel. Diesel is very good in the car and will relax, Kaos, well, he gets rather excited :laugh: At the moment with the baby in the back as well, Kaos has to be in a harness, and tends to get rather tangled in it, slowly getting better though.

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It is still a very good idea to crate train, if you ever have to fly your dog, or they need to be hospitalised it is much easier on them if they are crate trained, motels etc will lso oftena ccept a crate trained dog.

I also find travelling babies in a secure crate is a godsend if they happen to suffer from car sickness.

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great to hear they can be harnessed at such a young age. so i will be on the lookout for a small harness!

also decideded not to crate train either, seeing as i plan on being home for a few weeks I'm pretty sure I can toilet train without one. plan to be mistake free too .. see how i go!

Of course you can toilet train without a crate, the crate just makes it easier. Crating isn't only for toilet training though. It's great for getting the dog used to being crated and also having time out. There will also be periods when you want time out from the dog. Crates are a god send. One of my dogs is only 16 weeks now and she was trained during the night in only one week and I credit this to her crate (and of course me).

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Guest june.andnovas
It is still a very good idea to crate train, if you ever have to fly your dog, or they need to be hospitalised it is much easier on them if they are crate trained, motels etc will lso oftena ccept a crate trained dog.

I also find travelling babies in a secure crate is a godsend if they happen to suffer from car sickness.

she will be coming from QLD to Perth so crate training will have already begun. thinking about it a little more it could be a good idea to crate for sleeping. then if she whines i will hear and wake up.

i'm hearing so many conflicting helpful ideas ... just difficult to know which way to go! in the end it is my dog, so it's all upto me :laugh:

could be a good idea to take the pup and get a harness fitted when she arrives. i can get an idea on which shop i want to buy one from and then take her there.

just can't let her touch the ground, is that correct? as she won't have had all her shots.

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Guest june.andnovas
great to hear they can be harnessed at such a young age. so i will be on the lookout for a small harness!

also decideded not to crate train either, seeing as i plan on being home for a few weeks I'm pretty sure I can toilet train without one. plan to be mistake free too .. see how i go!

Of course you can toilet train without a crate, the crate just makes it easier. Crating isn't only for toilet training though. It's great for getting the dog used to being crated and also having time out. There will also be periods when you want time out from the dog. Crates are a god send. One of my dogs is only 16 weeks now and she was trained during the night in only one week and I credit this to her crate (and of course me).

job well done ... toilet trained in a week!

*high five*

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I find dogs take a while to get used to seatbelts/harnesses. I would go with a crate as trying to untangle dog and harness while driving is unsafe, to say the least.

I never crate trained any dogs before I got Tilba. We had a 6.5 hr drive & she did well in the crate which I still use now, only for the car.

My previous dog, April, I tried a harness & after 10 mins I had to take it off. She became so twisted in it. I tried a few more times with the same result. I finally bought 2 of those straps that you put into the seat belt holder & the other end on the collar. I used 2 to keep her from touching the windows.

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great to hear they can be harnessed at such a young age. so i will be on the lookout for a small harness!

also decideded not to crate train either, seeing as i plan on being home for a few weeks I'm pretty sure I can toilet train without one. plan to be mistake free too .. see how i go!

Of course you can toilet train without a crate, the crate just makes it easier. Crating isn't only for toilet training though. It's great for getting the dog used to being crated and also having time out. There will also be periods when you want time out from the dog. Crates are a god send. One of my dogs is only 16 weeks now and she was trained during the night in only one week and I credit this to her crate (and of course me).

job well done ... toilet trained in a week!

*high five*

Nope, still not toilet trained, just trained not to pee in her crate. She'll still go in the house if the door is closed.

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Personally I only believe in crating in a car and recommend it highly to all of my puppy people. I've known of people who have been involved in accidents and their dog/s have either been badly injured, or have escaped and ultimately been run over or disappeared, or which have made attempts to help the people in the car very difficult due to guarding and/or confusion.

A good crate is by far IMO the safest method of travel.

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