Taking your "Best Friend" for a ride in your New Car

Just look at that face. Why would you ever risk endangering your dog when taking them for a ride?

I recently ran across and article that stresses the importance of using a harness when you take Fido for his beloved car ride. The reasons for securing your pet are obvious. Primarily so he or she doesn’t become a projectile in case of an accident. even a minor fender bender can be enough to hurt or kill your pet. I ran across this story at petautosafety.com that proves my point.

“Trixie is an interesting mix of Malamute and lab. She has the lab head and build, but the Malamute coat coloring, curled tail, and one blue eye. Although Trixie is a high-maintenance dog who needs lots of exercise, she is very well-behaved in the car. That is why I never considered getting her a dog car harness – until it was almost too late.It was mid January of last year. It was snowing hard, but my boss insisted that I come to work. I considered leaving Trixie at home instead of taking her to the doggy day care. But Trixie is still young and doesn’t do well when left alone by herself. After making sure the doggy day care was open, Trixie and I got into the car and pulled out of the driveway.
The road was slick. My car literally slid out of the driveway. I considered calling my boss back and saying I couldn’t make it, but an echo in my head told me that I didn’t really want to hear him yell at me. Besides, I thought, I just go new tires on my car. We will be okay.
Even though I was going very slow, my car lost its traction and spun when I tried to turn off of my street. I turned into the direction of the spin and took my foot off the brake, just as I have been told to do by the media and DPS. I cringed as I heard Trixie yelp as she was thrown to one side of the car. Then cringed even more when I heard her cry as the car was jolted to a stop when it hit and jumped the curb.
Trixie was frantic. She kept yelping like she was injured and I feared the worst. I never got out of the car to see what I hit or assess the damage. I was too busy trying to calm Trixie.

Needless to say, I did not go to work that day. After a visit to the vet, it turned out that Trixie was fine – nothing more than a bit of bruising, thank goodness. But for several months afterwards, Trixie was terrified of riding in the car. I have since bought a dog car harness from Pet Auto Safety.com. And thanks to some tips from those at Pet Auto Safety.com, I have been slowly rehabilitating Trixie to ride in the car again. I am happy to say that she has seemingly forgotten the incident and gets very excited when I get out the dog car harness.”

You buckle yourself in, so do yourself and your pet a favor, secure them every time you go for a ride…He’s your best friend, you owe him that at least.