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Asking for help in choosing a "car kennel" for my 2 cav's :))

mom4bella

Active member
Hello!
I am hoping to get some recomendations on a "car kennel" for my 2, (inseperable!) cavaliers. Nothing fancy, just something safe for them to be in when driving across town to the park, etc :)) Any recomendations will be appreciated! Thank You!!
 
Hi and welcome! :)

There are various options, but the safe options, IMHO, boil down to two categories -- a safety car harness, or a crate. If you opt for a crate, a strong plastic one is better than a collapsible wire one, and I'd recommend getting one that is airline approved. Or if a wire one, you can get quite strong wire ones that, for example, fit in the hatchback part of a car -- I have one of those and it will take two dogs, even three, easily. You can get really rigid steel crates, used by some show breeders for example,but they are really expensive.
 
We have a Chevrolet Suburban, with a lot of room in the back, and we have two airline-approved plastic crates which are tightly tied down to the floor of the vehicle with sturdy nylon straps and metal hooks, so if the vehicle rolls over, the crates (ideally) won't tumble around. For our little princess Wendy, who prefers to sit in a car seat, we have a harness with a seat belt threaded through its loop.

The goal is to keep the dog from bouncing around in a crash. A few years ago, I witnessed an SUV slip off of a large highway and roll over and over down a wide, sloping grass median, ending upright on the lanes headed in the opposite direction (literally just a few meters behind our vehicle as we were traveling and I was trying to guess whether I should speed up or slow down to avoid it crashing into us). My other thought at the time was wondering what was going on inside of that SUV as it tumbled. Any loose dogs or loose crates would have been terribly messed up.

Another important thing to know is that dogs should never be seated -- even if harnessed -- in a front seat if the car has airbags. I understand that if an airbag deploys, it could kill a dog due to its position in the seat.
 
Another important thing to know is that dogs should never be seated -- even if harnessed -- in a front seat if the car has airbags. I understand that if an airbag deploys, it could kill a dog due to its position in the seat.

I am constantly amazed at the number of people that drive with their dog on their lap. The airbag is in the center of the steering wheel right where the dog is.

On newer cars the passenger side airbag won't deploy because the dog doesn't weigh enough for the seat to sense an adult. So a doggie car seat is probably OK. Check your owner manual.

I also have an SUV and tend to keep my back seat folded flat. The crate goes back there and is strapped in. For occasion short trips a few blocks from the house I let her just lay on a rug in the back. On the highway it's in the crate.
 
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