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Reminder To Restrain Dogs In Cars


Austerra
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Agreed, LM you need to settle down. I fail to see where Dju has blatantly declared that she has no interest in keeping Hugo safe. All she said was that she didn't have one yet - never did she write that she does not care for his safety or wouldn't consider getting him a seatbelt or harness. Find something better to do with your time then bully other members.

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Take a chill pill for goodness sake, LM. Dju said she was getting a harness. How about you lay off - your brow beating isnt encouraging anyone!
She bought a harness. Get off her back!
No. She told me in a PM. Just leave her alone for goodness sake.

What an interesting day you've had.

Do all you posts have to be so caustic?

Maybe you should take a look back at all your recent posts, as we all can.

Who needs to take a chill pill, now?

We are not your whipping post raz.

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Thanks Raz for sticking up for someone who was being ganged up on and treated like she was slowly starving her dog to death or something.

JC some of this is just about the silliest ranting I have ever come across on this forum.

Naww thanks Jaza. She's pretty cool and getting it all sorted.

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Okay so perhaps LM may have gone overboard with her statements but I can honestly understand why, considering she mentioned she lost a family member because a dog was loose in the back of the car. My cousin died because a speeding drunk driver wiped her off the road. Am I paranoid about drink driving and speeding? Absolutely! I lose my nut at people who speed etc; most of them think I'm loony unfortunately. :(

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Such a horrible thing to happen.. poor little dog :(.

Does anyone know if it's illegal to travel with unrestrained dogs in SA..? We never restrain either of ours but never have the windows down either. We did try our italian greyhound in one of those car harness thingies because he tends to bounce around and give the other dog the sh*ts.. but he damn near broke his leg by wriggling and twisting around so much so we gave up on that idea LOL.

It's only illegal if they are unrestrained in the back of a ute. Even if you don't have the windows down you run the risk of your dog breaking something or dying through the force of being thrown around the car. It was a very minor incident that initially prompted me to get a harness for Justice. I was driving down a 60km/hr road doing around 40km/hr (as I was approaching a set of lights that were red) when the car in front of me hit their brakes too hard (they weren't at risk of hitting another car so I think maybe their foot just slipped or something). I had to brake a bit harder than I already was but it wasn't even remotely like I slammed the brakes on or anything, as I was a fair distance from the car. Anyway, that little bit of extra force was enough to throw Justice forward from the back seat and wedge his head between the driver's seat and the front door. I drove straight to a pet store and bought a harness as I could only imagine what would have happened if I'd had to come to a complete stop.

It was only a few months later that I was driving along the same road (not a main road by the way but it still gets a bit of traffic) doing just under 60km/h in the middle of the day when a Learner driver pulled out of a side street on my right and made a right hand turn in front of me, just as I got to the street. I slammed my brakes on and swerved to the curb and she slammed her brakes on and we avoided a collision with me at full speed by a few centimetres. I don't get rattled easily and I was shaking like a leaf and felt sick. I pulled over as soon as I safely could so that I could check on Justice and calm down. He was a bit rattled (although that might have been because I was so rattled) but other than that was perfectly fine - no bruising or strains and he didn't hit his head on anything, solely because he was strapped in with his harness. The force that I stopped with would have been more than enough to throw him in to the front of the car or even the windscreen, unless he was stopped by the back of the front seats in which case he no doubt would have broken something. It would have been even worse if the two cars hadn't managed to avoid a collision.

It's only of late that I had gotten very slack with the harness and I think it was probably just me becoming complacent as there hadn't been any incidents since the one described above. But as this thread shows, it only takes one mistake or moment of distraction for everything to go wrong. I've been lucky in that Justice is really easy going and never gave me any grief over the harness but it really is worth training your dog to accept the harness in the car.

What scary stories.. I can definitely see the advantages of restraining your dogs while driving. I'm actually a bit embarrassed to say it's not something I've considered properly.. makes me feel silly and irresponsible when hearing stories like the original post and yours! It only has to happen once doesn't it.. :mad

Don't feel silly. I drove Justice around for about a year before the first incident happened and scared the hell out of me. I'd even read stuff about restraining dogs but somehow didn't really think it through. Even with my experiences I still got to a point where I stopped strapping him in regularly and made all sorts of justifications in my head about "just popping to the shop", "I'm in a hurry and don't have time" and many others like it. As I said earlier in this thread, I'm thankful someone posted this as it gave me a kick up the butt and got me back on track with using the harness each and every time I take him out, even if it's just to the local shop. I would never transport a baby without properly securing it in its capsule regardless of whether it's the law or not and Justice deserves the same dedication and protection. If sharing some of my experiences helps convince someone else to do the same then I'm a very happy person. ;)

((Nice to meet you today :laugh:. Justice is sooooo cute!))

I had a quick squiz at the harnesses at Fidos today.. will have to bring my two into be fitted for one! I have a feeling that a good quality one would make it harder for Boomer to twist around in :confused:.

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they could do with making it law over here.. the number of people that drive round with unrestrained dogs in their cars is unbelievable..

i growled at my mate the other week for carrying her jack russel(cant remember if they are 1 l or 2 lmao) girl in the car without being restrained as a result she took me to a pet shop to help her get a harness and seatbelt for her girl lmao.. i was amazed it worked... my boy has had a harness since day one and i have since got one of these http://www.togsfordogs.net/sei/s/3066/et/csbr.jpg as i have only just got a vehicle that he can travel in.. if he is not belted in using that he is anchored to the seat mount in the floor (i own a van with removable seats) by a lead and his harness..

the other problem i have is as nice as it is to see people have their dogs restrained is those that clip the attachments to the collars.. what happens in that case when they slam on the breaks and stop suddenly and the dog gets tossed around?? possible broken neck and bye bye doggy..

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Okay so perhaps LM may have gone overboard with her statements but I can honestly understand why, considering she mentioned she lost a family member because a dog was loose in the back of the car. My cousin died because a speeding drunk driver wiped her off the road. Am I paranoid about drink driving and speeding? Absolutely! I lose my nut at people who speed etc; most of them think I'm loony unfortunately. :(

Sure, I lost my fave brother in a shocking car accident as well but telling Dju once was enough, not continually bludgeon her over the head. She has the harness for Hugo and he's slowly getting used to it. Maybe it would have been better if Dju said - OK I get the point and I've bought a harness - but she was getting yelled at.

Toolz, I think those clip ons to collars are a really bad idea for exactly the reason you mentioned.

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Toolz, I think those clip ons to collars are a really bad idea for exactly the reason you mentioned.

its just not worth the risk and i dont know WHY people do it.. i have seen a few people that do.. the other thing that bugs me is those same people that then think oh my dog is safe and stick the windows way down and said doggies climb out windows and hang themselves.. thankfully i havent heard of it happening over here but thats not to say it hasnt.. some people in my honest opinion shouldnt own dogs when they think like that

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some people in my honest opinion shouldnt own dogs when they think like that

I think the problem is, they dont think at all. My dogs are all crated in the car so ofcourse some weirdo in the street reported me to council years ago thinking my dogs were kept in the crates in the car 24/7. The ranger couldnt get over it - this twit didnt think to herself OK so dogs are transported in crates in a car for safety reasons. I dont know what on earth she was thinking.

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very true.. read somewhere recently cant remember if it was on here or another forum where someone had left their dog in the car and the window down far enough for dog to get some air and when they came back (bout 10mins after they left) there was this dumb person at there car calling the cops cos the dog had apparently tried to bite them (dog growled and bared its teeth apparently)..

when asked how the dog had apparently tried to bite them they replied with 'i put my hand in the window to pat the doggy' im mean come on!!!!! is that not a great case of not thinking?? i would hope my dog would growl at someone stupid enough to put their hand in my car cos it would mean he was protecting it and doing his job!

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Poor little dog and owner how sad, both our dogs are restrained in the back of the station wagon, there is also a barrier gate so they cant get into the back seat.

even dogs just having their heads out of the window can be dangerous, as it is possible, that you could run into a swarm of bee's, which could injure your dog.

lablove

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Remember that not all 'dog seat belt harnesses' have actually been safety tested or are designed to offer protection like you would expect a seat belt should. Some are good for keeping your dog tethered, but wouldn't offer much protection like a proper seat belt. There are a couple of brands of dog seat belts that claim they are safety tested/the same as human seat belt standards. These are what I would call a dog seat belt harness - the ones that are designed to offer protection as a seat belt, and not just ones that tether the dog to the back of the car for normal driving (even though they're better than nothing.)

The brands that are proper seat belts are Ruff Rider Roadie, and Pet Buckle. There may be others, but these are the two I know of.

Link http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=188699

Edited by Baby Dragon
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