Pet Safety in your automobile

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

That great Rita!!!

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Great thread to bump!

And since our accident in July, I'm gonna chime in that every critter in your car really NEEDS to be secured when traveling one way or another.

Had ours not been crated, they would not be with us today.

[4mickey2 41]

one thing most people don't think about are the air bags.

if a child shouldn't ride in the front seat don't let your animals. think about what an airbag could do to your dog/cat? we have a friend that took his bird to the vet. he got out of his truck and went to the passenger side to take the bird out---the people at the vets office started giving him the third degree about having the bird in the front seat. he never even thought about the airbags.

i am bad---ours are not secure in our vehicles.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Wow, I had not though of that either. I wonder if Lola is ok on the console in the middle?

[BRDof3...Rob 40]

Our Lab rides in her crate, no matter what the length. For local trips the Shih Tzu sits in a lap and looks out the window. For longer trips he gets crated, too. Both of them fit behind the back seat in the truck. They get a little socially isolated back there, but they're safer.

I hadn't event hought about air bags. Don't even want to know what they could do.

[Discamper 394]

I hate seeing people driving with their dogs on their lap. If there windows down I ask do you love your dog when I get a yes I tell them well if that Airbag goes off you will be wearing every piece of them all over you. Most people will then put the pet in the back seat. Rudy rides up front in the passenger’s seat with the Airbag turned off and Shelby rides in the back seat.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

I don't want to harp on this or come across as some crazed "secure your pets" lunatic, but...

Our accident took place less than 30 miles from our house, we were doing less than the speed limit on a dry road with clear skies and were in a really big, sturdy truck (thank God!) We were cutoff by another driver and flipped to the left, crushing the roof over the driver's side, before the TT whipped us back the other way. We landed in an L shape, on the side of the road, still connected to the TT, on the passenger's side. We climbed out through the sun roof and every window in the truck had shattered except for the rear drivers wing window.

If you haven't seen them yet, you should look at the photos HERE.

I am 100% positive that if our dogs hadn't been crated they would not all be alive today.

I was going to bring Brady to work this morning. He loves going and hasn't been in a while. Then I got outside and realized that Brian took the truck and I only had our car - a big Grand Marquis - which doesn't have crates in it.

For a second I thought - it's only 13 miles, a good back road, no traffic, 35mph...

Then I looked at him, thought a second, and put him back in the house and left without him.

I'll give him a big hug when I get home tonight and he'll come another day.