Next Monday my bulldog Porter and I will be hopping in a rented minivan to drive cross-country to move to Eugene, Oregon. My plan was initially to put him in his cage (just a single wire cage, not a hard-sided travel kennel) so that he could sleep without getting rolled around by braking and such. I may still do that—he needs to get at least twelve hours a day or his wrinkles begin to lose elasticity—but at the suggestion of one of my soon-to-be-ex-roommates, I’ve just bought him a Pet Vehicle Safety Harness from Solvit. It has a padded piece that goes all around the front that connects to the seat belts in the vehicle, in theory giving them a little bit of motion while they’re sitting but still locking up tightly if there are any sudden stops.
I’m not actually sure Porter will want to be sitting up for more than a few minutes at a time, but if he can still manage to lay down in the seat at all it should be a safer option for him than being in a bungeed cage. And if not, at least we’ve got the first piece of equipment he’ll need when we go skydiving.
You’re going to love Eugene! So will your dog. Welcome to Oregon!
I first read that as Soviet pet harness. I was happier that way.
Soviet harness pets YOU!
(you know, I’ve never tried that meme before and now I know why)
AGIES,
You are not alone.
It’s great to see you moving out to the Northwest, shame you’ll be all the way out in Eugene though. What was the impetus for the big move?
My bulldog sleeps about 12 hours a day, too – in addition to 8-9 a night. He always hated the car harnesses (he’d invariably end up wrapped up in the tether), so I just gave up and let him ride in the back unfettered. It works out okay because he only stands up either to turn around or to see where we’ve stopped.
On a bulldog-related note, they moved up again in the AKC registration statistics which were just released.
We’ve got two of those for our dogs. Different brand but the same concept.
They are comfortable for them and also give them a sense of security. Before I discovered these, I always carried my dog loose in the car and even though I drove carefully, I had to do fast(er than usually comfortable) stops and he slipped off the (front) seat into the footwell. Not much fun. With the harness on, this never happens.
and he sleeps on the seat too.
We have a similar harness for our dog who has no problem sleeping with it on. Good luck on the move, Joel. Who will now represent east coast interests on BoingBoing?
We had to get a harness for our cat, but she was so fat, we had to use one made for a medium sized dog. She’s traveled around 3,000 miles with it, but finally figured out how to take it off. Yours looks more substantial, though – seems better than a cage, though they sometimes seem to find semis a bit traumatic.
Joel, Joel, Joel… don’t you know you’re supposed to build a shielded cage on the roof?
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/romney/articles/part4_main/
You’ll never be president now!
I have a spastic black lab mix who only manages to tangle herself up in a similar harness. Without the harness she sleeps in the back seat, but in it she is a mass of nylon webbing and feet in about five seconds.
Hope it works out better for you, and good luck with the move.
My girlfriend and I did this drive about a year and a half ago for our move to Eugene, but with a cat…good luck.
I made one of these for my dog Stink before our holiday road trip, and it’s great. I used a couple of kids’ backpacks from the thrift store to put mine together. The rear panel of one backpack goes between Stink’s legs, across her chest, so that the shoulder straps come up over her shoulders to mid-back. There they buckle to another set of shoulder straps, which are sewn to the back panel in such a way that they wrap around her sides. (Hard to picture, I know – I’ll try to get some photos if anyone is interested!)
If you haven’t already, make sure you experiment with this. Our dog slipped out of hers without any problem, regardless of how snug it was.
Have a good move. I’m sure your dog will prefer it in Eugene over NYC, but how will you cope without delis every five feet? Perhaps you will have so much room for Legos that it won’t matter.