The author was hit by a drunk, off-duty driver that caused his vehicle to roll over three times, with Oliver being ejected. Thankfully, Cody ended up fine, and the author lived to see another day. What were some lessons learned from this crash?
The primary lesson was that dogs absolutely NEED a harness when in the car. It's safer for them, and safer for you. With that being said, dogs are members of our family. It's our job to keep our family safe, and using a dog harness is a big part of that.
Why do you need a dog harness? First, and most commonly, it keeps the dog in the car where you put them. When driving down the road, if your friend decides he wants to sit in your lap while driving - that's a no-go and is obviously very dangerous. This harness keeps Fluffy in the safest part of your vehicle.
What if you get in a crash? Physics can be challenging to overcome in a crash. To avoid boring you, the author will leave out any formulas or calculations. The bottom line is if you are in a crash, everything that is not strapped down is going to become a massive liability and potential danger.
Obviously, the author's dogs are not light (Mr. Oliver is 140 pounds). That certainly would hurt me if he hit me. It certainly would hurt him if he hits anything in the car. Not much more needs to be said on that, as anyone can use their imagination on what can happen.
The author has been using the Mighty Paw setup for around 2 years and has been extremely pleased with it. When initially purchased, the author felt they were cheap in price and almost expected to replace it with a higher quality item. That proved to be wrong. They are holding up great and do the job perfectly. That is nice because these days it seems that safety almost always comes with trading in a decent amount of money.
The dog harness comes in various sizes which can be important. Cody wears a large and Oliver wears an Extra Large. They both come with a lot of adjustments and can be adjusted to fit perfectly.
They are easy to put on and the dogs don't seem to mind them. We can take them on long walks while wearing the harness if we choose to.
Mighty Paw offers several ways to connect your dog to the car securely. There is an option that plugs into most seat belts, and also an option to utilize the vehicle's car seat clips. Both options from Mighty Paw work extremely well. If you have multiple cars in your family, I recommend just getting clips and leaving them in each car so you don’t have to move them so are my apt to use them.
The author cannot state this enough: if you ever drive with your dogs in the car, this should be used all the time. Stay safe out there!
Mighty Paw Latchbar (child seat attachment point) tether
Mighty Paw seatbelt clip tether