car harnesses

Still trying to prepare for our new little girl, and I was reading on here about the whole car seat/crate/car harness debate. I've decided to try the seat belt harness, but I was wondering if there was a type that would work with the puppia? Or would I have to use a different type of harness? I remember reading on someone's message that they used theirs with the puppia, but I can't seem to find one that isn't a complete harness. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. I'll have some pics on here hopefully sometime this weekend once we get her!!

nursejess80 said:

Still trying to prepare for our new little girl, and I was reading on here about the whole car seat/crate/car harness debate. I've decided to try the seat belt harness, but I was wondering if there was a type that would work with the puppia? Or would I have to use a different type of harness? I remember reading on someone's message that they used theirs with the puppia, but I can't seem to find one that isn't a complete harness. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. I'll have some pics on here hopefully sometime this weekend once we get her!!

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You can use the Puppia, we do. Use it with the seatbelt tether that you can buy at Petsmart, etc. It attaches to the Puppia, then has a loop that you feed the seatbelt through. Very easy to use.

I bought the seatbelt harness contraption but don't use the harness part, I use the puppia instead. It wasn't my intention but I didn't like the harness that came with the seatbelt loop. There are some who will disagree with my using the puppia...it's just how I choose to do it.

Thanks for the tips. Didn't realize you could do it so easily....still new to the whole dog seatbelt thing. We used to always either crate them or put them in the back of our SUV with their beds.

We use the VestHarness.

It's a soft, lined harness with the seatbelt loop on the back.

We use it both in the car and for walking Mary Alice.

She can sit or lay down with it on and can see out the window. :flwr:

For long car trips, we crate her but she hates being crated.

A puppia or any harness designed just for walking is not actually safe as a car harness -- remember that a dog can be thrown forward on an impact of only 30mph with a force up to 20 times its weight in the first foot it would travel after impact. For an adult cavalier weighting 15-20 lbs, a Puppia would be unlikely with its construction to restrain a dog thrown with the force of 200-400lbs against that harness and its ring. Either the hardness would break or could potentially hang the dog or decapitate it due to the way the neck is constructed.

The only harness I know of so far that is actually safety tested in proper car tests is the Ruffrider: www.ruffrider.com . I am sure some others are adequate, too.

For a puppy I'd just use a correctly sized crate til adult size unless you want to buy a succession of harnesses as they must fit properly.