Driving With Your Pet

By Joy and Brian Pape

We were recently car shopping and were pleasantly surprised to see how pet friendly car companies have become. This led us to check information at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and The Center for Pet Safety (CPS). Here is information provided in the AVMA article, Pet Safety in Vehicles.

Dog in the back seat with the CPS Certified® harness and seat belts. Credit: Paw Prosper.

Many of us enjoy taking our pets with us in the car or truck. But did you know that doing so can threaten our pet’s safety — and even our own — if we don’t take appropriate precautions? Two behaviors are especially risky: leaving pets in vehicles and allowing them to be loose when driving.

Pets and hot (or cold) vehicles
Temperature fluctuations can make it dangerous to leave your pet unattended in your car. Your vehicle can quickly reach a temperature that puts your pet at risk of serious illness or death — even on a day that doesn’t seem that hot, and even if the car is left in the shade. And cracking the windows makes no difference.

The numbers back it up. Research on vehicle safety for children indicates that the temperature inside your vehicle can rise about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in just 10 minutes, and almost 30 degrees in 20 minutes. The longer you wait, the higher the temperature climbs. At one hour, your vehicle’s interior temperature can be more than 40 degrees higher than the outside temperature. Even on a 70-degree day, that’s more than 110 degrees inside your vehicle!

Cold weather can also threaten pets left in vehicles. Remember: leaving a pet in a vehicle on a chilly day isn’t much better than leaving them outdoors. Pets that are young, old, ill, or thin are particularly susceptible to cold environments and should never be left in cold cars.

Unrestrained pets while driving
The dangers to pets in cars don’t stop with temperatures. Just as we should always wear seatbelts to protect ourselves in case of a traffic accident, so should our pets always be properly restrained. This means using an appropriate safety harness, crate, or carrier to keep them — and you — safe. And you shouldn’t drive a pickup truck with a pet loose in the truck bed.

Here are a few risks posed by loose pets while you’re driving:

A small pet could crawl down in the footwell, interfering with your use of the brake or accelerator pedal.
A large pet leaning across your lap can interfere with your view of the road.
During a collision, unrestrained pets may be crushed by deployed airbags or thrown out or through windows or windshields.
Pickup trucks pose an extra risk. Driving with your dog unrestrained in the bed of a pickup truck is not only dangerous, it’s also illegal in many states. Besides potential injury from airborne debris, dogs can fall or jump from the truck bed and be injured or killed on impact or be struck by other traffic. Although using an appropriate-length tether might seem like a good remedy, the tether could tangle, injure, or even choke your dog.
Another risky venture is allowing your dog to hang their head out of windows during a ride. We get it: this practice can be fun for you both. But fun can quickly lead to regret if your dog injures their head from flying debris, is thrown from the window on an abrupt turn or stop, or jumps from the window, risking injury to themselves and anyone who tries to catch them.

Keep pets safe in vehicles
Before putting your pet in your vehicle, ask yourself if you really need to take the animal with you. If the answer is no, leave your pet safely at home.

Use an appropriate restraining device:
Vehicle harnesses (usually for dogs only) are different from the harness you might use to walk your dog. Look for crash-tested harnesses that work with your vehicle’s seat belt and keep your dog sitting upright versus lying down.
If using a crate or carrier, choose one that’s big enough to allow your pet to stand up, turn around, and lie down comfortably. Position the crate/carrier as near to the center of the vehicle as possible and secure it in place to prevent movement.
If you must transport your dog in the bed of a pickup truck, use a secured and appropriately sized and ventilated dog kennel.
Never leave your pet alone in a parked vehicle, no matter what the outdoor temperature or how long you think you’ll be gone.

Center for Pet Safety Recommendations