Do you take your dog for car rides or road trips? Is your dog buckled up!
SUGAR loves car rides and going on fun long road trips. The crash-tested Sleepypod Clickit Sport dog harness keeps her safe.
This post is sponsored by Sleepypod®. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Sleepypod products, but Golden Woofs only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers.
Going on trips with your dog is exciting. Don’t overlook your dog’s safety in the car. No matter how safely you drive, accidents can happen and be prepared.
3 Do’s Buckling Up Your Dog!
1. Use a Crash Tested Carrier or Harness
An unrestrained pet can cause a distraction and interfere with your driving. If a crash should occur, an unrestrained dog can be quickly thrown from the car. An unrestrained 60-pound dog traveling at 35 miles per hour can turn into a 2,700 pound projectile in an accident.
Sleepypod offers Pet Carriers and Safety Harness:
Pet Carriers
The Mobile Pet Bed is three products in one: everyday pet bed, a stylish carrier, and a safe car seat. Your dog or cat will be cruis’in safe and in comfort. The vet approved Mobile Pet Bed was the first of many crash-tested safety products designed by Sleepypod.
The Sleepypod Atom Carrier is a modern car pet carrier. With a strap on both sides, the crash-tested Sleepypod Atom can be transformed into a safety car seat.
Safety Harness
Sleepypod offers two Clickit safety dog harnesses, Utility and Sport:
SUGAR uses Clickit Sport Harness. Sleepypod Clickit Sport is the first dog harness in the industry to be certified by the Independent Pet Safety Research Institution, the Center For Pet Safety and received a five-star rating.
For more information about Sleepypod’s carries and harness, visit sleepypod.com. Watch Sleepypod’s crash test videos and see how all of Sleepypod’s products go through their Safety Test Program.
2. Off Your Lap
Keep your dog off your lap and from sitting in the front seat. During an unexpected accident, your dog can be injured or even killed if the airbag deploys. Be sure to place and restrain your pet in the backseat. The safest spot for your dog to buckle up is the middle of the back seat.
3. Keep the Windows Up
Make sure the back seat windows are up. If you have a vehicle with power window, set it to lock. Your dog’s paw can accidentally open the window down. It’s cute but not safe to let your dog stick his/her head out in the breeze. It’s very dangerous especially for overexcited dogs, that are known to jump out of moving vehicles. One main reason to properly restrain your dog in the car, buckle up!
How do you keep your dog safe in the car?
Sleepypod is providing one of our readers a pet carrier or a safety harness. Follow the giveaway tool.
We used to have a car harness for our dog, now we just try to restrain him by tying his leash to a chair handle. We bring along treats on long car rides.
Unfortunately the chair handle (on car seat?) would likely break upon impact and the poor dog would go flying. Also if the dog is on a collar instead of a harness… that could be very bad as well. It’s difficult to safely restrain our pets, that’s why Sleepypod ClickIt is such a great option.
We really need a seat belt harness for our dog, so this would be so great to win. Usually we have multiple people in the car with our dog, so one person can restrain him, but a harness would be great. I think bringing treats or a toy for car rides is a good idea.
all 3 of my girls wear harnesses in the car. i have ties in the front seat since they do better in the front seat. they are small and can all fit on the seat. they all have seatbelts. i cover the seats for them. i tried using the crate for the oldest but she got very upset and it did not work, i had her in the crate in the backseat, with the crate tied so would not move. i try not to feed the girls when i travel. i do take water and treats with me. the baby, now 6 used to get car sick a lot, her mom got car sick as well. but she is doing better now. i just dont feed her b4 we travel. i also carry a battery operated fan with me just in case the car is hot when we get in it. i set the ac vents so the air blows on them. i also carry a bag with ice water bottles, water cup, foldable, etc.
one tip is to avoid feeding right before we go on a long car ride. We don’t have a car harness for my dog right now but we do try to keep ahold of him on his leash.
My dogs are safe in the car by being restrained. Wager rides in a crate, and Shiloh wears a safety harness. My tip would be to always carry emergency paperwork- vaccine and health information, etc.
Wow. TigerLily needs a very very small size. Mine is too big for her and also too old.
This is a really good idea. Dogs and cats can distract you from driving. Keeping them in harness is win-win.
They ride in crates.
A little ginger helps if they’re prone to car sickness.
I always wear a harness and I’m alcatrazzed in the car…. better safe than sorry, specially when you have a longer tour with the car…
I use a crate but after watching the video I’m saving up for a Clickit Sport safety harness. I have been traveling long distances with my dogs for years. I always take lots of breaks along the route. I take them out individually which can be difficult because they don’t like to wait their turn (this was when I had a small dog and large dog). They get small treats and all the water they’ll drink during the stop. Letting them outside in a fenced yard or walking them for short distances also helps when we get to our destination. Gives them a chance to ‘stretch’ their legs, smell and do any ‘business’ they didn’t do on the trip.
We used to have a harness for her but she outgrew it 🙁 I recommend not giving food or water 30-60 mins before the car trip to decrease car sickness.
I use a harness but its not a top rated one like Sleepypod! Thanks for the tips and the opportunity!
Right now I buckle my pets in but none of them like it and often freak out. Treats are a must in our car rides to help keep everyone semi-calm.
1) We always use a dog seatbelt.
2) Bring extra water!
My 22 week old puppy gets buckled into a pet booster seat and my 4 year old AmStaff/Boxer mix has a seatbelt attachment that connects his harness to the seatbelt of the vehicle. I usually have XM radio on “Spa” station, keeping the music low and mellow.
I just ordered the mobile pet bed for our new pup. When she’s big enough, I plan to use the Clickit harness. I haven’t figured out another idea instead of the harness.
One dog sits in a seatbelt and the other dog doesn’t like it. She almost bit it off! She goes in a crate now. I like to make sure my dogs take a nice walk before a long car ride
I use a soft sided carrier but not a Sleepypod. We were recently rearended on the expressway when traffic caused us to stop & the driver who hit us was looking away from the road. My dog could have been seriously injured if she was not restrained.
Always buckle your pets. I’ve worked in a vet er and saw too many preventable injuries to pets!
Used a harness for my previous dog. But after she passed I ended up adopting 3 small dogs. Too small for any of the harnesses. Saving up for 3 Sleepypod pet bed carriers.
We have a harness, but I’m not sure it is the best option.
I have a pet car seat for one dog, but need a safety harness to go with my other dog. Stopping to let me out on long trips is good.
I keep my dogs in the back of the car. I have a hatchback. When my Chihuahua was alive, I had a booster seat for her in the front.
Car harnesses are essential for any and all car rides.
With my previous dog I never knew they made vehicle safety harnesses for pets. She rode in my front seat, luckily I never had an accident. I have a safety harness for my current dog, however after watching the safety tests on Sleepypod’s site I believe Sleepypod is the safest. I thought I chose a safe product, doesn’t look that way.
Harness
I could not get your pin’s to work so did what I could and pin to FOR DOGS.
I use the Sleepypod harness for my two dogs. I sometimes put one of them in a crate on short trips.
Unfortunately, I really don’t have a good way to keep her safe, other than telling her to stay put. It doesn’t always work. I do always carry treats in the car, so if she tries to get into the front I can coax her to stay in the back.
I don’t really have a way to keep her safe in the car. She just lays in the passenger seat.
I have always seat belted my dog as a precaution, which isn’t necessarily that safe since the belts slip and a dog could still be hurt upon impact. Then I saw the dog seat belt harness ratings showing Sleepypod ClickIt as a top performer. This should be a must for any dogs in cars just as car seats are required for babies.
The most travelling we do with my 7 year old golden is the very rare ride through our town or to the vet. He’s really not a fan of vehicles. Probably because when we first adopted him, we were travelling constantly between few different houses. We don’t strap Gavan down in the vehicle – that’s not really safe in my opinion. What we do is have a harness and a collar on him with a leash attached to one or the other. That way if something happens, we can grab him easily. It works for us.
Wow, I’d LOVE one of their harnesses for my pup. We are always in the car and i worry so much about his safety in the backseat. We try to have someone sit back there with him and hold him but the harness would really put my mind at ease. We have found that really wearing him out with play is great for long car trips!
We need to use two sleepy pods four our dogs safety.One of the girls
likes to look out the window,and the other lays down and sleeps.I would
feel much better using this for their safety.
We Have 4 dogs. We could use a harness or carrier
Roxy could use a seat belt harness. Right now, she’s trained to know where to ride and we (ack!) hope for the best. We’ve been waiting for a good, safe dog seat belt to be available in her not so dainty size.
I keep my dogs in a crate in the backseat to keep them safe while traveling. My best tip for traveling with your pet is to always have their ID tags on them.
I am training my second service dog. Would love a sleepypod, but I have access to two vehicles and one will not work with the sleepypod
I always have my dog on a leash with identification on collar and microchipped
I always carry water and try to offer it at all stops
I use the tile on his collar if he gets lost and taught him to come to me if it beeps
I put a selfwarming pet bed on the seat next to me And I use a seat belt for him. Beau is safe and toasty.
My Westie won’t stay seated in the car, so he has a pet seat belt that I hook onto his harness. Keeps him sitting in the back seat and won’t strangle him if there is an accident. The big dogs stay seated so I don’t do anything to restrain them.
We have a plastic crate to help keep our dog safe in the car, but I’d love this option so that my son’s service dog could sit on the seat next to him. To help with travel we make sure to always have plastic bags and wipes – just in case.
We keep our dog in a carrier. However I’d feel so much better using a SleepyPod Harness. My main trip for traveling is to take breaks and make sure that you stay as relaxed as possible. Everyone picks up on rushing around stress and it never makes travel fun.
That red Sleepy pod harness looks so stylish on Sugar! 😀 We use harness looking similar to Sleepy pod but it’s not crash tested. Sleepy pod harness seems really safe and reliable. 🙂 Happy cries and become so anxious whenever in the car, so I bring his blanket and snacks. 🙂