How to travel with a dog?

Yorkshire Lass

Guest
OK the Lunar Newstar is the right size but only has two seats with belts.
When we are in the car the dog goes on the back seat with a harness on a seatbelt.
Any ideas on how to keep him and us safe in a motorhome?
Can we fix an anchor point some where.
Any advice would be great, theres not enough room for a dog cage.
Advise please
Lynda :cool:
 
we had an irish setter up to last year who came everywhere with us.
she used lie on the floor between us & was quiet happy.
tony
 
We have a Springer Spaniel Molly and comes everywhere with us in our Kontiki. She just lays down between the two front seats and doesn't move the whole journey!
 
We have the double dinette permanently down while away.

The 2 Pugs travel in a cage on there. The 4 Whippets vary between the dinette bed and the rear fixed bed. Although Dash is usually on the settee with his head poking through the curtain and his chin resting on my shoulder. He has never complained yet about my driving, so I expect he just likes to see where he is going.:D
 
mine sits on the back seat and sleeps . but if we are getting abit lost on roundabouts she barks at the correct road to take .its really funny. she is normally correct. found her way from malaga beach to my mates garage last winmter .about 5 km . never been to the place we were at. but got startled by fireworks and scarpered . 2 hrs later get a phone call ,come and get blacky she,s here. amazing.
 
A friend of mine's dog was travelling on the back seat of his car when he had a shunt. The dog was thrown out through the rear window on to the road. I would say you wouldn't have an unrestrained child in your car but I see this regularly. Imagine being hit in the back of the head by a 14lb bowling ball doing 60 mph. Or a 30lb dog. Or an 80lb child. Use a harness and fix it to something solid.:eek:
 
Hagrid lays down with his head facing the front and the rest of his
bulk behind, we have only side facing seats.

He is toooooo big for a harness and where would we put one ?

62kg of Newfie not wanting to be tied down.

Best not to talk about shunts and bumps.

Roll on France though.
 
dont need seat belts in my truck. dont need seat belts in the back of a motorhome. usually have classic cars as well no belts. ride trikes no belts no crash hats. do use a hat on the m,bike only cos the fuzz tend to stop you. cant get a new truck or will have to fit belts . dont like being told what to do. must be why we are on the wild side.
 
We know

Mastodon said:
A friend of mine's dog was travelling on the back seat of his car when he had a shunt. The dog was thrown out through the rear window on to the road. I would say you wouldn't have an unrestrained child in your car but I see this regularly. Imagine being hit in the back of the head by a 14lb bowling ball doing 60 mph. Or a 30lb dog. Or an 80lb child. Use a harness and fix it to something solid.:eek:
Click to expand...

:confused:This is why our dog wears a harness attached to a seat belt.
We wear seat belts and don't want a dog in the back of our head if god forbid we are involved in an accident.
Remember the ad on tv- Mum on the school run killed by her teenage son in the back (not wearing his seat belt).
Car is involved in an accident- think the hit line was
"after killing his Mother he sat back down"
 
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Regardless of what the law says about seatbelts, I'd urge everyone to make sure all passengers and dogs have them. The reason I'm so anal about this is that last year, we were in a collision. A car, coming towards us, went out of control and into a spin and hit us head on. The motorhome was a write off; but what really gave us a shock was the absolute chaos in the back from going from 30 - 0 mph (honestly, we weren't going fast). As well as all the contents of the cupboards and the cushions flying forwards, the built-in fridge had smashed through its wooden cabinet - I know it's not thick wood but the fridge came right through it and into the back of the passenger seat. We had been thinking about getting a dog just before it happened - we are so glad we didn't have one, because it would certainly have been killed if it hadn't been restrained with a belt or similar. So please, please use seatbelts. I'll climb down off my soap-box now ...
 
We have a little Jack Russell, he goes with us everywhere, we have one of those canvas type boxes for him to travel in, its got plenty of room for his bed, and he can see out of the mesh at the front. We always have him in the dining area between the facing seats (its a six berth van), we did originally have him on the made up bed at the back, but we realised that he was suffering some sort of motion sickness, so being nearer to the front seems to have dealt with that. Pets at Home do a good range of harnesses and cages/boxes for both cats and dogs, i certainly would not allow our dog to wander whilst we are on the move, the thought of him sneaking under the pedals is too much!
Alison
 
Time to update travel with a dog

We found a solution which has worked so well. We got a Quickdraw (consists of two carabiners connected by a length of webbing) and two big carabiners from a climbing shop. We put the quickdraw around the frame of one of the front seat (it's a fixed seat not swivel) then attach the dogs travel harness to it with the carabiners. Our dog can stand,sit and lay down between the front seats. We are close but we are all safe and secure. We've nearly completed our first year as MH owners and love the freedom. :wave:
 
Our border / lakeland terrier cross wears a harness that goes through the front passenger seatbelt - but he sits on the floor between us rather than on seat. secure and happy
 
We have our Westie on one of those extending leads and hook it over the seat belt thing. She can move around a little, but not get under the driver's feet. She is a very active dog but is perfectly happy to sit between the two front seats but restrained by her lead.
 
How about a dog trailer?? They are available, used for working dogs.

Horrified about using a trailer?, well it's OK for horses and farm animals.

When you get there, you have an instant kennel, keeps the wet n dirt out of the MH and that horrid "Wet Dog" smell. If they mooch about in the night, the van doesn't rock.

You can strap the bikes to the top of the trailer as well
 
Yorkshire lass, is there any chance you could please post a photo of your quickdraw system? We now have a dog and I worry about him getting hurt if anything should happen.

Thanks in anticipation,

Jo
 
Quickdraw

Jo,
We got ours at a climbing shop, but I found lots on line just type quickdraw climbing into a search engine. Your looking for this sort of thing, you may not need extra carabiners.
MC.jpg

Hope this helps happy travelling. x
 
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drill a hole through one of the crossmembers (not the chassis!) and stick an eye bolt in, and clip the harness to that? Or a 'load ring' like on lorries which lay flat?
 
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