I did it, too. My first dog, a golden retriever, rode loose in the back seat of my vehicle—a Pinto. I was hardly a poster child for dog safety in a car! That was last century. Many years and two vehicles later, I still put my arm up to block the space between the front seats when I come to a quick stop.
I was lucky. Nothing bad ever happened, except for that time my dog, as a pup, squeezed out of an inches-open window in the car and joined a family reunion—rather, shall we say, boisterously.
When I bought the vehicle I own now, I researched and measured: two 400 Varikennels must fit, side by side, in the back, because by then, I had two big dogs. There’s only one Varikennel in that vehicle at the moment (I use the other side for groceries), but I have the second crate in storage for when I finally get a puppy. My small dog rides in a small hard-sided kennel strapped into the front passenger seat with a seat belt—that side does not have an airbag. The cat rides in a 100 Varikennel, also strapped into a seat, when she makes a visit to the veterinarian.
I am very sorry to say that I have been relatively ineffective in convincing my friends and neighbors that their pets should be confined safely when riding in cars. Dogs I care about are regularly transported loose in cars. Sure, they have comfy spots there—blankets, even bedding—but they are entirely unsecured. Hit the brakes and those animals could fly forward . . . you get the picture.
I know dogs whose owners have compromised. Rather than trying to wedge a hard-sided crate or carrier into a vehicle with little space for it, they’ve opted for a harness that attaches to a seat belt. That’s certainly an improvement over letting a dog ride completely unsecured, of course, but little protection in case of a collision.
Plus, not every harness is engineered to attach to a seat belt, and not every contraption you might buy for that purpose is safety-tested in any way. If a harness is your only recourse, for dog’s sake do the due-diligence: research the safety testing of all the equipment first!
My goal in writing about securing dogs safely is to scare the absolute heck out of dog owners who imagine a dog can be safe riding loose in a vehicle. It’s simply not possible.
Think about a child riding “loose” in the same spot you put your dog, then visualize that child in the worst vehicle collision you’ve ever seen. The result will not be attractive. Don’t do it to your dog.
To make you think hard about how you transport your dog, I asked dog professionals: Tell me about something bad that happened because a dog was unsecured in a vehicle.
The stories start off amusing, but imagine yourself in the same circumstances. Not fun.
Dogs loose in vehicles might only drink your latte . . . or eat your prescription.
Dogs loose in vehicles could simply jump out, if a window’s open, a door’s ajar, a hatchback pops.
Dogs loose in vehicles when the vehicle is moving?
The faster the vehicle, the more danger to the loose dog.
I’ll say it again: Don’t risk your dog’s safety, don’t risk your dog’s life.
Secure your dog!
Cheri Spaulding (Oregon) I took my dog, Kevyn, for a ride in my old Jeep when I went to the store to pick up bottled water. We were in the middle of an early evening sleet shower. As I was getting out of the car, I flipped the switch to lock the doors and dropped my keys on the floorboard of the car. As I bent down to pick up the keys, my dog launched herself over into the front seats and over my back into the parking lot. I reflexively shut the door as I stood up. Instantly I realized my dog (with no leash on) and I were outside the locked car with the keys inside the car. My dog ran out into the busy intersection of cars commuting home after work. I went after her while slipping and sliding on icy pavement. She danced around the cars and would not come to me so I was forced to lie down on the side of the road to get her to come over to see what I was doing. I grabbed her collar and slid my way into the store to call a tow truck to come unlock my car door. This could have been a lethal end to one or both of us. I’m thankful the commuters stopped their cars, but I can picture them laughing their heads off watching me lie on the side of the road. At least my dog or I didn’t die of embarrassment.
Christine Hale Vertucci (Illinois) I was at a nosework trial in Alabama with Omar. It was a warm day, and I had the engine running with a shade cloth to keep him cool in the car. For some reason, I let him loose in the back seat of my CRV while I went to the restroom. I returned and we were called to search when I realized he had locked me out of the car, with my spare key in the pocket of my treat bag, also inside the car. I panicked. Other competitors were calling the police for me, we tried breaking into my car, etc. Then I realized that I had Breeze Guards in the back windows, and windows weren’t up all the way (forgot with the shade cloth covering the car). So I cut the Velcro strap off, but still couldn’t reach the unlock button in the front. I had to stand on a storage bin and climb through the back window with a boost from a fellow competitor (just as embarrassing as you might imagine). We managed to rock that trial and earned a title that day.
Lesson learned; I now always have my spare key on me, and my dogs are always secured in their crates in the car. Always, whether we’re traveling or competing.
Margaret Tyler (New Jersey) Back in the dark ages, when air conditioning in cars was having all the windows open, and seat belts were non-existent, [my family] drove from Illinois to Colorado to see my sister, who had recently graduated from college. We were crawling down a street (pre-GPS era) looking for the house, when suddenly our dog sailed out the window right over my five-year-old self and hit the ground running, leading the way directly to where my sister was sitting out in the yard waiting for us. I think I was semi-hysterical, but the dog was fine.
Donna Furneaux (Ontario, Canada) For years, I kept my dogs unsecured in a back seat with a window partially open when we drove up to our cottage. I had a beagle and a mutt at the time. The Ontario Provincial Police were making traffic stops, as the new law about wearing seat belts had just been enacted and they were doing spot checks. Our car got stopped and I opened the driver’s side window. The officer came over and looked in the car, happy to see us wearing our seat belts. Then the beagle climbed over the front seat to get at the officer. He was rewarded with a lick and a bark. She didn’t jump out the front window, but she could have. My last beagle did jump out the back window when I left it wide open one time when we left our cottage. Luckily, I was driving very slowly so she was not hurt and didn’t run away. Now I use a harness and seatbelt attachment for any dog in the back seat.
Lynne Petermann (New Jersey) I use seat belts, but my friend’s dog had her head sticking out the window, they stopped at a red light, and the dog saw a deer—poof, out the window she went after the deer. The dog had no recall either.
Marilyn J Wolf (Indiana) I was ringing the bell for Salvation Army one year. I took my friendliest dog with me. She had a rug to lie on, if she wanted. I rewarded her every time someone petted her. Very soon, she was soliciting and the donations increased. Suddenly, a dog about her size jumps out of a car and comes running toward us. [The dog only] came over and sniffed her, but Candy was really upset. The people came and got their dog after just a couple minutes.
Stacy Braslau-Schneck (California) My dog Flip shifted my car into neutral when we were going 50 on the highway.
Photo by Val Hughes — Molly, a Berger Picard puppy
Hilary Lane (Colorado) I was in a turn lane slowing to a stop as the light changed to red. There were a few cars ahead of me. I heard a crash as one of the cars hit the car in front of it, popping open the hatchback. The dog in the car [that was hit] jumped out of the hatchback and ran through traffic across the street. She was clearly agitated. The owner jumped out of her car and ran after her dog but could not get the dog to come to her because the dog was freaked out.
The strange thing was, I knew the person whose dog jumped out. My dog Frisbee was in my car and I had treats. I maneuvered around traffic and got close to where the woman was trying to catch her dog. Her dog happened to be one of Frisbee’s best friends from daycare. I brought Frisbee out, with my treats, and the dog ran right over to Frisbee, ignoring her guardian, so at least she was safe that way. It was such an odd and happy coincidence! I stayed with both dogs while the woman got her car out of traffic and was able to report the accident to the police. But that dog was scared and was about to run back into traffic before we got there. Very emotional ending, for sure.
Caryna Baker-Fox (Virginia) I watched as a woman’s boxer jumped out the window of her moving vehicle. The dog was dragged along the pavement, hanging by its neck by the collar/leash. She stopped, got her dog back in the car, and headed straight to the vet.
I really stress to all my puppy families that they need to keep their dogs safely crated while driving.
Susan Ferman (Washington) A cattle dog in Lewiston fell out of the back of a pickup the other day, because the clasp on her safety cable literally snapped in half. Thankfully, she is okay, but if it had happened in traffic, it could easily have been a tragedy.
Sarah Adams (Oregon) I was driving my young dog to agility class. She was in an unsecured crate (Varikennel) in the back of my pickup (truck had a topper). When I accelerated away from a stop sign, the tailgate popped open, and the crate fell out and landed in the middle of the intersection. I felt the bang, looked in my rearview, and saw the crate. Pulled over and ran back. Fortunately, the driver behind me saw the crate fall out, thought there might be a pet [in it], and blocked [the crate] so that nobody else would hit it. The dog was okay, but I was a wreck. At least she was in a crate. If she’d been uncrated, she could have bolted and been hit by a car, or vanished into Forest Park.
Kathy Smith (North Carolina) Lots of stories from those driving RVs. Dogs loose have either died in an accident (as they look like a pile of sticks [in the road]) or go missing. Friends of mine tell the story about the crew cleaning up debris after a massive accident (driver had to be airlifted out) hearing whimpering. The two Samoyeds were in Impact crates. They were perfectly fine, albeit confused.
Tim Beau (Oregon) The man opened the back of his SUV with the crates open. He was tending to one large dog with the other dog in its open crate. It was in the parking lot in Ellensburg. I was walking Chiquis on her leash and harness. The other dog saw Chiquis and dashed towards her. The man yelled [for me] to grab my dog. No time. I just swung her in the air on her leash and caught her that way. The man secured his dog and apologized, saying his big dog always attacks small dogs. I’m thinking, “You need to be more careful about securing your dog if you are already aware of that.” I almost lost my dog that day.
Alisha Ardiana (California) I transport a variety of sizes of dogs in my car, so I am unable to secure them. But, at the very least, I have a gate so they cannot go flying through the windshield. I also now always have dogs in harness and on long lines in my car, so if we have an accident, they will hopefully not run away. It’s the best I can do but I am open to other ideas!
Marcy Burke (New York) A friend of mine was asked to drop off her friend’s dog to her friend’s house. She had three crates [in the vehicle] for her own three dogs. She put her friend’s dog into one of the crates and put one of her own dogs in the front seat. She got into an accident and her dog was thrown from the car. His spine was severed and he had to be put down. I get very upset when I see dogs traveling without crates.
Cathy Collins (Michigan) I had to lock my brakes to avoid hitting another car. My dog hit the dashboard, dislocating her hip. She was lying in the passenger front seat. (I did not hit the other vehicle, so no airbag was deployed.) She ended up having to have a femoral head ostectomy. My dog is a 24-pound Schnoodle.
Tiffany Niederle (Ohio) Someone . . . had her fiancé killed by a flying dog in a car accident. The dog was in the back seat. When the vehicle hit something head on, the dog smashed into the back of the man. I forget exactly what injury resulted in his death, but it was caused by the dog hitting him. The dog was fine, by the way.
Rita Bierley (Ohio) I have slight PTSD from this and many times have to pull my car off the road if I see a dog in the bed of a pickup. I was driving to work on a long stretch of rural road when I passed a pickup truck going the opposite direction. I saw that a dog on a rope was being dragged! I honked, quickly turned around and caught up, honking the whole time. They stopped. The owner had put the dog on a rope and tied it to the truck. The dog either tried to jump out or fell out! I followed them to an emergency vet. The dog had to be put down. It was one of the most horrible things I have ever seen!
Lori Leah Monet DVM (Colorado) Years ago, I had a client with a beautiful Siberian husky. This dog was the joy of her life and the dog went everywhere with her. One evening we had a storm that started with drizzle and then snow. The client lost control of her car and slid into another car. The woman had her safety belt on and the collision wasn’t enough to set off the air bags, but the dog slid off the passenger seat to the floor. When it did, its head hit the bottom of the dash, which broke its neck, killing it instantly.
On the having-your-pet-confined part, I had another client who traveled back and forth to a cabin in the mountains with a dog and a cat. The dog was always loose but the cat was crated. Coming home one weekend down I-70 near Georgetown, the husband lost control (that area is a steep grade and in normal traffic, speeds reach the 80s and 90s in a narrow slot, with semis doing 30). The BMW SUV flipped several times, ejecting the golden retriever and the crated cat. The dog was scraped and bruised but survived. The crate broke open and the cat was not seen. After an hour, they located the cat under a Jersey barrier in one of those openings they use for a forklift. He was fine, but it took awhile to get him out he was so scared and wedged in.
Jeanne Brennan (California) Ugh. When I see dogs hanging heads out of vehicles I think of this story often. A young mother had her kid in a car seat in the back seat, and the three- or four-month-old large-breed puppy. She had the back windows partially rolled down, like one-third of the way, thinking the puppy couldn’t squeeze through. Sadly, she was wrong. The pup squeezed out while she was driving and either her car or another car hit it. It was still alive when she got it into her car, but it was dead by the time she got it to my shelter. People could be hard on this woman, but I could see how she thought the pup wouldn’t be able to squeeze through. She was distraught, and probably still beats herself up for this error.
Kim Rinehardt (California) My brother-in-law rolled his truck when driving across the California desert. He was out in the middle of nowhere land, and had to wait for another car to come along to get help. Their small dog stayed with him in the truck and wasn’t harmed, but their large dog (Buford) took off running in the dark and we never saw him again. It’s been over thirty years, and I still regularly dream about that dog. Not knowing what happened to him is torture.
Here are links to several articles about vehicle collisions and loose dogs:
https://dogtime.com/trending/12049-agility-trainer-and-six-dogs-crash-in-the-desert
