Harness
Dog Car Safety Seat Belt
The
safest place for your dog is in the middle back seat, and this harness
is a good one to use to put him there. It attaches to the car seat
belt itself with metal clips. Remember, the car seat belt has been
manufactured to federal safety standards so attaching to it directly
is a good thing.
This
one allows your dog enough motion to lie down if he wants but not
so much that he can jump off the seat. Harness and buckle are sold
as an unit.
The
only drawbacks are that it will take a bit to adjust it to fit a
smaller dog, and it's not padded. I think this one is good value
for the money.
You
may prefer the popular
Solvit Safety Harness
brand with its fleece lining although it's about the twice the cost.
The Solvit style doesn't attach in safety belt mechanism. You snap
in the car seat belt and then loop the Solvit one through it (see
photo on right). Be sure to tighten the car safety belt as much
as possible before you attach the Solvit harness.
Padding
is desirable to help distribute his weight in the event of a crash.
This fleece one, however, does make it heavier and stiffer than
other harnesses. If your car is air conditioned it probably doesn't
matter but I can't imagine a small dog would like this one if he's
in a hot seat.
I personally
think fleece is highly overrated for dog products. Goo attaches
easily to the fleece and it's difficult to clean and keep clean.
This
harness also has plastic snaps rather than metal in the back. You
might find metal ones to replace those and have your shoe repair
shop sew the new metal ones on. I hate plastic clip on attachments;
all of them break sooner or later.
The
Ruff
Rider Canine Travel Restraint and Harness, which the
manufacturer states is the only crash-test certified dog restraint
harnesses and seatbelts in the country, has received good reviews
in several dog publications. It's more expensive the others above
but you may feel you're getting your money's worth.
The
Roadie is a step-into harness. This is one of those products that
professionals love, but it hasn't reached the popularity of the
Solvit line.
You
can read how it came about after the founder and his dog had a horrible
car accident at http://www.ruffrider.com/.
You'll
have to experiment a bit with the styles to see which type you like
best. Some canine Houdini's find a way to slip out of certain styles
and others simply cannot adjust to restraint in any form. |