I was driving to work today & saw a dog hanging about 1/3 out a vehicle window. It made me think I should blog about this due to potential risks. I will say many dogs like to stick their heads out the window, but it can be a safety issue. In this post I will share some examples that I know of that happened to some free roaming pets in vehicles.
One risk is something could fly in the dogs eye, you wouldn’t ride a motorcycle without some type of device that covers your eyes to protect them, would you.
A pet not being restrained in a moving vehicle has other potential risks such as flying forwards or backwards if you had to quickly slam on the brakes or God forbid your vehicle was struck by another vehicle. Your pet could be seriously injured from an airbag or hitting windshield.
A pet that is free to move around a moving vehicle can be a risk to your safe driving ability, if for example your dog saw a squirrel out your window or another dog and ran across your lap to look out your window and blocking your view. A pet could get down by your feet and impede you from braking properly or maybe press down on your foot while on the gas pedal causing you to accelerate. This happened to me once, it really scared me so, I took precautions after that.
If you were in an accident a loose pet could be injured or maybe even get out of the vehicle & run off because it is frightened. Sadly this happened to a friend. Her dog & her boyfriends dog were loose in the back of a truck with a cap on it. Someone struck them unexpectedly & the back of the cap flew open and the dogs ran off. My friend tried to find her dog, but sadly she was scared & was nowhere to be found for over a week. Luckily hunger got the best of her & some men found her when she smelled their food.
I worked at McDonald’s shortly after high school & a man visiting from another state had his two Golden Retrievers with him. He pulled away from the drive thru onto the road &a car backfired & his dogs were scared & jumped out the window. We tossed hamburger patties to the dogs to try & keep them close & thankfully the man figured out how to get back to where the dogs were.
One more example (this one is very sad). Near a friend’s home a man who was driving had chest pains, so he pulled over & he called 911 just before he passed out. Help arrived but his dog was loose in the vehicle and was protecting his owner & wouldn’t let anyone near him. It was going to take over an hour for someone to come to tranquilize or remove the dog. The man didn’t appear to have that much time, sadly the dog had to be shot to get to the owner. Thankfully the man survived, but his dog who was doing what was natural lost his life.
Some options for your pet in the car are:
- A crate: which is what I currently use as my dogs get car sick sometimes & one is a chewer so keeps my car seats/belts etc safe. https://amzn.to/3EGqVOn
- A harness your dog wears & the seatbelt goes thru it. Some dogs will step on the release and unhook it so monitor your dog. I have used these with great success. https://amzn.to/42Xewzx
- Harness or tether that go over the head rest or clips into the seatbelt & you attach the short leash to their collar. https://amzn.to/4i081R6
I know some people will say my dog wouldn’t leave me or jump out of the vehicle window, & I hope not. Honestly they are animals we can’t predict what might happen in every event or circumstance if they are frightened, better safe than sorry. Just like I hope you wouldn’t have an infant or toddler in your vehicle that wasn’t strapped into a car seat, lets try & do what we can to protect our pets in our vehicles as well. Thank you for reading and if you know of other safe options please share them in the comments.
Echoing Great Pet Care 