Greys And Cars - How Fragile Are They?

[Guest SoulsMom]

Does anyone have any suggestions for putting 2 greys in the back seat? We currently have one grey, and he's fine alone. We are thinking about a second, though. I was curious how both would fit in the back of my fairly small car. I can't always steal DH's SUV! Any tips?

 

Do the seats fold down? Soul is 80lbs, and his buddy Sharky is also 80lbs. They both have plenty of room in the back of a Mazda6 with the seats folded down. More than they need, actually . . . . .

 

[Guest Snazzy_Chloe]

I think it takes them a little time to learn the rythm of the car and driver. They are not too good when standing, I tell mine to sit or lay down when driving and she likes sitting sideways with her head on top of the back seat so she can look around. Usually, it is when she is in the middle of turning around that she loses her balance if I brake or corner hard.

[Saffron]

Am I the only one who realizes how unsafe it is to have 85 lbs of dog unrestrained in a car? I don't know the technical terms for the weight/G-force or whatever it's called in an accident. But I do know that even at slow speeds an accident could cause your dog to go straight through the windshield or get tossed out of the car. Heads hanging out the window in an accident could also be fatal.

Call me paranoid, but I am never without my seatbelt in the car, and neither is my dog. He wears a seat belt harness everytime he's in the car, even for quick trips, and he's not allowed to stick his head out the window. I know I am in the minority, but I feel a lot better knowing we are both buckled up!

 

Nope. You are not alone or at all paranoid, IMO. We use harnesses here too for all the reasons you said. It does take some training and some (but certainly not all) hate the harness at first. We also used a barrier in the back of the SUV though when we only had one grey.

 

I train them to lie down while wearing the seatbelt harness. This works in my Camry (limit 2 greys in the back seat). In the Forester: one in the back seat (she likes her space), and 2 in the *way back* cargo part -- the harnesses attached to the tie downs.

 

An unsecured dog can become airborn in a collision and however carefully we drive anyone can have an accident. Just saying.

 

Gillian

Catwalk, Pilgrim and Murhy.

 

 

[Guest onefloppyear]

Does anyone have any suggestions for putting 2 greys in the back seat? We currently have one grey, and he's fine alone. We are thinking about a second, though. I was curious how both would fit in the back of my fairly small car. I can't always steal DH's SUV! Any tips?

 

Do the seats fold down? Soul is 80lbs, and his buddy Sharky is also 80lbs. They both have plenty of room in the back of a Mazda6 with the seats folded down. More than they need, actually . . . . .

 

It's a very small Toyota four-door sedan. The seats fold down to get access to the trunk, but it doesn't make for a very even surface. I am just trying to picture two dogs fitting on the back seat. My one grey is a big boy and not the most coordinated dog on the planet. And he doesn't sit. He does fine by himself, but he takes up the whole seat when he lies down. I don't want to relegate a second grey to the floorboard behind my seat. I just wondered how others managed.

[Jackandgrey]

Does anyone have any suggestions for putting 2 greys in the back seat? We currently have one grey, and he's fine alone. We are thinking about a second, though. I was curious how both would fit in the back of my fairly small car. I can't always steal DH's SUV! Any tips?

 

Do the seats fold down? Soul is 80lbs, and his buddy Sharky is also 80lbs. They both have plenty of room in the back of a Mazda6 with the seats folded down. More than they need, actually . . . . .

 

It's a very small Toyota four-door sedan. The seats fold down to get access to the trunk, but it doesn't make for a very even surface. I am just trying to picture two dogs fitting on the back seat. My one grey is a big boy and not the most coordinated dog on the planet. And he doesn't sit. He does fine by himself, but he takes up the whole seat when he lies down. I don't want to relegate a second grey to the floorboard behind my seat. I just wondered how others managed.

Just fill in the footwell space between the back of the front seats and the back seat either with pillows or something firmer - just to make a larger platform of the backseat. That gives enough room for two quite easily. Mine did fine that way in a Corolla for well over a year till we got the Rondo.

[Guest onefloppyear]

Sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the suggestion.

[kudzu]

It's a very small Toyota four-door sedan. The seats fold down to get access to the trunk, but it doesn't make for a very even surface. I am just trying to picture two dogs fitting on the back seat.

Someone mentioned filling the space between in front of the rear seat. That is essentially what I do. There are several approaches but this is the one I chose: Link to "Outward Hound Car Seat Extender" It's an odd contraption that doesn't look like it would work but it does. It spans the gap between front & rear seat while leaving the footwell area open to stash gear.

 

Plus, my dogs ride laying down. Though I always used harnesses before. Since adding my senior dude he seems to get all tangled up. Am still searching for a solution to that.

[Guest Jennifer4719]

When I have my dogs in the car, I find myself driving like I am hauling my horses. Slow stops, starts and slow easy turns. My dogs lay down most of the time in the car, but there are the times when they are standing, especially before we get on the highway and when we are exiting the highway. Funny how they always know!

[Guest Ally]

Am I the only one who realizes how unsafe it is to have 85 lbs of dog unrestrained in a car? I don't know the technical terms for the weight/G-force or whatever it's called in an accident. But I do know that even at slow speeds an accident could cause your dog to go straight through the windshield or get tossed out of the car. Heads hanging out the window in an accident could also be fatal.

Call me paranoid, but I am never without my seatbelt in the car, and neither is my dog. He wears a seat belt harness everytime he's in the car, even for quick trips, and he's not allowed to stick his head out the window. I know I am in the minority, but I feel a lot better knowing we are both buckled up!

Yup, got one, and I pretty much nearly have to stop every 5 minutes because one of them is screaming in pain having got a leg caught or is wrapped around the seatbelt. I keep trying, and I will. Until then, I have to get them to the vet. I am completely aware of the dangers of crashing and an 80lb dog being launched forward. My DH sits in the back holding onto them and we have a barrier between them and me. Lea sits in the boot with the parcel shelf removed and Gordon is on the back seat with DH. There is a small dog guard in the middle. I can't do anymore. I drive at like 10 mile an hour!

 

I fill the foot wells with cushions so there is more space and less gaps to fall down into but the problem is that Gordon can't sit. If DH walks him in circles on the back seat he will eventually lie down and with the cushions in the foot well he seems to be comfortable.

 

I have no idea how people drive their dogs over to the continent!!!

[JenniferS]

Yup, got one, and I pretty much nearly have to stop every 5 minutes because one of them is screaming in pain having got a leg caught or is wrapped around the seatbelt. I keep trying, and I will. Until then, I have to get them to the vet. I am completely aware of the dangers of crashing and an 80lb dog being launched forward. My DH sits in the back holding onto them and we have a barrier between them and me. Lea sits in the boot with the parcel shelf removed and Gordon is on the back seat with DH. There is a small dog guard in the middle. I can't do anymore. I drive at like 10 mile an hour!

 

I fill the foot wells with cushions so there is more space and less gaps to fall down into but the problem is that Gordon can't sit. If DH walks him in circles on the back seat he will eventually lie down and with the cushions in the foot well he seems to be comfortable.

 

I have no idea how people drive their dogs over to the continent!!!

It does take time to get them used to it. The first few times I had to pull over to untangle him, and once I was in a spot where I could not pull over and he panicked and tried to chew through the seat belt! Try starting slow, offer treats, take a 10 minute ride, then increase with time, keep offering treats! What I do w/ my Subaru wagon is put one seat down, one seat up, so it creates a small area he has to stay in, and he has to stay facing forward. He has gotten totally used to this over time.