Should Pet Be Restrained in Vehicles? - Page 2

dragonfry I had a similar experience.  Someone cut me off on a 50mph road and they were basically at a stop.  They had moved into the left turn lane and stopped to make a turn, then changed their mind and swerved back into traffic without checking.  I nearly rear-ended them (not my fault) and had my dog not been restrained she would have been through the windshield or knocked me out cold (or worse).  It really doesn't matter how well *we* drive, someone can T-bone you or cut you off and cause a fatal accident any time and you have no guarantee.  Restraining a dog is not 100% safe either but as harsh as it sounds I also owe it to myself and my passengers to keep us safe from a 75lb projectile (dog) in the event of an accident or instant stop and I don't think it's cool or cute to have dogs slobbering all over my windows and hanging their heads out the vehicle.  Also when we stop, having them in crates means I can keep doors and windows open for ventilation.  I feel bad for dogs I see at some of our training clubs that are kept free in the car so the windows can only be cracked or they'll escape.

I personally don't have a problem with crates in the back of a pickup truck.  I don't see how that's any different than a dog trailer or crates inside of a van.  I wouldn't condone dogs riding freely in the bed of the truck but I don't condone dogs riding freely in any vehicle.

Interesting.  I just found out that dogs are required to be restrained in vehicles here.  Most of the discussion I've heard about it references small dogs posing a distraction (riding in driver's lap, up on dashboard, back and forth, etc.) and I'm all for that.  I got out of my car once in a parking lot and two fluffy little demon dogs charged the (slightly open) window next to me growling, barking, and baring their little demon teeth - I almost wet myself, they startled me so, LOL.  I'm all for those little buggers being restrained.

But seriously...I'm not opposed to it, but like a previous poster, when I tried a seatbelt harness thing on my dog a few years ago, she got all tangled up in it, and I finally took it off.  I wouldn't mind finding another one for my car, but in our truck I like that the back seats fold up and there's plenty of room for the dogs to lay down on the floor, which is what they do and seem really comfortable.  Not enough room for crates there, so I'm not sure how we'd restrain them unless we kept the seats down and they sat up on the seats.  I'll have to check out some of the new(er) products/gear. 

I've never really thought of it as a distraction issue, I guess that could be the case but so can music, phones, kids, eating... to me it's a safety issue both for the dog and for the other passengers.  When I see those little designer dogs on the driver's lap I'm not worried about the distraction but what happens to that dog (and the driver) when some idiot runs a light and their airbag deploys?  The dog is killed and the owner is maimed, or the dog flies through the windshield or knocks out the other passenger.  I have no patience for those seatbelt harnesses and my dogs would probably think it fun to chew each other free so I use crates, even in my previous mid-sized sedan I had a little magic trick that allowed me to get a crate on the back seat, two if one of the dogs was a puppy.

I agree the dog should be restrained in a crate, behind a barrier or with a harness. 

I do not agree that is should be a law (except for no riding loose in the back of an open Pick Up). 

  I am against all the governmental laws we are now facing one after another daily.

We have so many new mandates , hidden from us till one day we may wake up , in a cucoon, but the reason for these laws like  Restraining dogs,,,is that so many people, statistically proven , just do not use COMMON SENSE..

A german shepherd laying in the floor board , on sudden quick impact becomes a live ammunition and they cannot control themselves and you certainly will maybe become the point of impact and be dead..

NOT the way I want to leave this world. It is our , humans, responsibility to THINK,  first, provide SAFETY, and  make sure our pets and children are safe. FOR years children got thrown from trucks in back , inside cars out windows in sudden stops. We just did not have such crazy drivers, such crowded roads and highways and such high speed driving habits and I am one who does have a heavy foot, so I would now not take chances..Laws got made because so many thought  , it doesn't apply to me. SADLY, others in your path get harmed so laws are the only way to enforce and scare people into doing what they ought to do anyway for safety and easy living.


The excuse , my kid doesn't like it, or my dog doesn't like it and won't stay in it..is BULL.

Who is in charge, YOU , or the kid or the dog? The very reason for Crate Training at an early puppy stage is for times like traveling, boarding and  visitors in your home who do not like pets, to be put to use without your pet throwing a HISSY.

If you cannot be a loyal parent to your    kid, and a sufficient caring demanding dog owner, do not have either.

YR

I have no problem with that law or one similar. My dogs are crated usually always. The key word in (at least NJ law) is "RESTRAINED" and who/how that is defined? The fine, (at least in NJ) is a little hard to swallow due to (for MD) a driver not wearing a seatbelt or any occupant not wearing the seatbelt is a $25.00 fine unless a passenger is under age then the driver gets hit with that fine also.

Anything, alive or dead, not secured in a vehicle will be a projectile in a Motor Vehicle Accident. And remember an accident doesn't always have to be two vehicles and it doesn't have to be a high rate of speed for all of this to take place.

I strongly dislike the nanny-state mentality of many lawmakers too, but when it comes to making something that is common sense and prevents injury or death to other people, then I'm ok with it. 
I've only been in two accidents, both times while driving my SUV, both accidents caused by the other drivers (incidentally, the first was a 16 yr old girl driving her mother's lil white car and the second was a 17 yr old girl driving her mother's lil white car....so now teenage girls driving their mother's lil white cars are right up next to drunk drivers IMO, lol)
First accident happened with one of my dogs loose in the back of my SUV and my best friend in the passenger seat, I was getting ready to make a left-hand turn when we were rear-ended.  The other driver was going maybe 15-20 MPH when she hit me and pushed me right into the other lane, luckily there was no other traffic, but we could have easily been hit again.  My dog was shaken up but not hurt, my SUV only had superficial damage but the lil white car was totalled. 

My second accident I was approaching a 3 way intersection, my lane did not have a stop but the other did, however the driver wasn't paying attention, didn't look, ran their stop sign and pulled out in front of me when I was maybe 10 feet from them going 35 MPH.  I hit her right in the driver side door.  My vehicle careened into opposite lane and her vehicle went spinning off the road, down a ditch and up the the other side.  All airbaggeds deployed, both vehicles totalled.  I had a full load of lumber in my vehicle and a hard plastic bucket of cat litter.  Two windows were smashed by the lumber, that hard plastic bucket of cat litter shot from the very back of my vehicle up to the front, right inbetween the driver and passenger seats, obliterated my console, radio/cd player, rearview mirror and windshield.  If an accident at only 35 MPH could do that to my SUV then I know if it had been a dog then the dog would've been dead. 
(both the other driver and I were taken to the hospital, my injuries were minor contusions/cuts/bruising, the other driver was knocked out, had some fractures, concussion and other minor head injury....she was so, so, so lucky her injuries weren't worse because they had to use the jaws of life to cut her out of that car)

I absolutely hate seeing drivers with pets on their laps, just a nasty accident waiting to happen. 

Just another N.J. money making scheme

Concur, that is what these nanny laws boil down to IMO. Its all about revenue and control. If NJ actually cared about you and or your pet how about free harness for every owner/dog that gets ticketed. You get a ticket, you pay the ticket, you get a harness, that will be the day.

Does anyone have any evidence that in a serious accident a harness will protect the dog? Projectile for sure, but a crate and or harness, a crap shoot with so many possible factors. Survival of the fittest/smartest, there is something to be said for no seatbelt laws and such. 

In a serious accident I don't think it really matters.  Even a dog in one of those bombproof military dog boxes can still die just from slamming the inside (same way humans die when the brain slams into the inside of the skull and then swells).  I think some of those car harnesses are made to withstand the pressure of the dog being thrust during an accident so they do offer safety for the other passengers by preventing the dog from hitting someone.  I use crates for ventilation which to me is just as important when it comes to my dogs' safety.  They have a much higher chance of dying because they have to be in a vehicle without adequate ventilation in order to prevent escape than the chance of being in a serious accident.