Dog travelling in motorhome.

[Reebs]

I believe it is illegal to allow a dog to travel in a vehicle without it having some sort of restraint? We have just got an 11 month old puppy. Obviously we want to take him with us in the motorhome, which is a Bailey Alliance. It only has seat belts for the driver & passenger. I'd prefer not to have cage as it would restrict access for us. Any ideas as to where we could attach a harness in the moho?
Thank you & a Merry Christmas to you all.

 

[Northernraider]

What if you have an accident and he is thrown out of front windscreen or hits you in the head with force. They become a missile in those cases. I also fear if we are unable to get out in case of accident and someone opens our door then our dog would run scared down the motorway if not tethered.

If we are doing what ifs though . What if you drive off the road in to a river or lake, or you crash and the vehicle bursts in to flames and you don't have time to unclip or untether your dogs before they drown or burn alive.


End of the day you can't foresee every possible accident or scenario in life and these types of accidents can happen just as easily.

A cousin of mine was actually killed in his car back in the 80's because of his seatbelt jamming, rare of course but it happened all the same.

 

[Trev45]

I believe it is illegal to allow a dog to travel in a vehicle without it having some sort of restraint? We have just got an 11 month old puppy. Obviously we want to take him with us in the motorhome, which is a Bailey Alliance. It only has seat belts for the driver & passenger. I'd prefer not to have cage as it would restrict access for us. Any ideas as to where we could attach a harness in the moho?
Thank you & a Merry Christmas to you all.

There are a number of laws / rules that don't apply to certain motorhome owners , I think this is one of them .

 

[Oldrat]

See post 13 for an informed decision

 

[Silver-Fox]

My concern is for the times when something beyond your control occurs, like an accident.

I’m disappointed you used the word “accident” given your knowledge of traffic laws etc

Collision will do for me

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[Silver-Fox]

I’ve done it several times. It’s not infrequent, but it’s far more dangerous before that point as fast cars try to avoid said woofer,

Sounds harsh but I would do as I was instructed when learning to drive.

If a dog or animal runs out in front of you, brake but don’t swerve to avoid it.

 

[Jonno1103]

I added a 2nd seatbelt clip to the passenger side. Problem we're finding now is that our 14 month 36kg black Lab now manages to unclip himself using his teeth! We've found attaching one of the leads to his harness gives him a bit more freedom that attaching it to his collar.

 

[enark]

Surely only a fool would drive with an unrestrained dog in a car or MH, in an accident, would you want a 30kg labrador smashing into the back of your neck? No.

Would a 30kg Labrador want to be flying around the cockpit - no

Would the said dog want to restrained by a chain around its neck? Would you - no

Get them restrained in a harness, not a collar to a suitable fixed point

 

[golly]

I use one of these attached to a harness and around the rear headrest, but if you dont have headrests, ant immovable point would do.

Amazon.co.uk

 

[Langtoftlad]

some serious righteousness being posted
your dog, your motorhome, your rules.

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[Diabalo]

We use a collapsable crate for our Cairn that I strap to the side wall for traveling.

 

[Diabalo]

They can't keep their sticky beaks out of anything.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...1&cvid=93710facadc44521a52d9e76f7ac4757&ei=22

 

[Tombola]

They can't keep their sticky beaks out of anything.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...1&cvid=93710facadc44521a52d9e76f7ac4757&ei=22

think you may have posted in wrong thread Diabalo

 

[jdk62]

My dog in my car, or motorhome is not restrained and able to be where he wants. He is trained, so not a problem, to me driving.

It is not just about a dog(s) being well trained… A case in point being a friend of ours had a much loved well behaved unrestrained spaniel in their estate car. They were involved in a five car shunt on the motorway ( they were in the middle), their dog was thrown from the rear and went through the windscreen. Died 2 days later.

So for those foolhardy or lazy people who do not restrain dogs for theirs and other vehicle occupants safety, then I question whether they could be considered responsible dog owners.

 

[AlunandFelicie]

This is how our two travel ,multiple layers to bring them to this hight ,harnesses clipped into seatbelt receivers ,theory being in a sudden stop they would slide onto table and hopefully not get injured

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[Northernraider]

some serious righteousness being posted
your dog, your motorhome, your rules.

Exactly. My dogs my rules. People don't like it tough shit.

I don't use harnesses, they encourage the dog to pull. In an accident a harness would still harm the dog in my opinion .
My dogs lie down at floor level in my motorhome when driving the one that doesn't is lying down flat behind my seat.

Just to really annoy the judgemental I'll add that the benefit of an older motorhome is no annoying light or buzzer to tell me I'm not wearing a seatbelt either and I often don't.... don't like it don't care

 

[PP Bear]

Get him a toed or his own set of wheels

 

[Whippet93]

Don’t and won’t restrain ours they settle very well in the front between the seats in their beds .

All very well but in the event of sudden braking or worse where would they end up?

 

[Jonno1103]

Surely only a fool would drive with an unrestrained dog in a car or MH, in an accident, would you want a 30kg labrador smashing into the back of your neck? No.

Would a 30kg Labrador want to be flying around the cockpit - no

Would the said dog want to restrained by a chain around its neck? Would you - no

Get them restrained in a harness, not a collar to a suitable fixed point

Yep, Jake is happy in his harness attached to the passenger seat, possibly because he's never known anything different and has always enjoyed road travel from 12 weeks old. He'll chew it when bored so now there's always an alternative on hand.

There's so much choice of attachments nowadays there's really no excuse. Even modern car seat covers have spaces for the seat belt buckle to fit through.

 

[Jonno1103]

Exactly. My dogs my rules. People don't like it tough shit.

I don't use harnesses, they encourage the dog to pull. In an accident a harness would still harm the dog in my opinion .
My dogs lie down at floor level in my motorhome when driving the one that doesn't is lying down flat behind my seat.

Just to really annoy the judgemental I'll add that the benefit of an older motorhome is no annoying light or buzzer to tell me I'm not wearing a seatbelt either and I often don't.... don't like it don't care

Personally I think you need to give your head a wobble -don't like it? Don't care.

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[Shrimp]

When we got Pippa-12 weeks old-we got a small metal crate, it folded up and we only used it for travelling a first week of nights. Was really good and out of the way daytime- flattened and under van when not wanted.

 

[Phill D]

I really don’t understand why some cannot resist calling others names and offer out insults simply because they dont agree with how other asses their risks differently.

Offering an option or advice is great but the tone of some of this is out of order imho.

 

[Minxy]

For those who use harness and/or restraints please ensure they are able to withstand a crash/sudden stop.

Only a harness that won't cause injury to the dog should be used, the types for walking are not suitable as they usually don't have the padding, wider webbing and stronger clips and fixings etc needed to minimise injuries.

Also how the harness is tethered is just as important, the tether needs to be strong enough to take the G-force of a sudden deceleration so the clips etc need to be able to take that too.

One thing a tether must NOT be is long enough to allow the pooch to move around more than is really necessary as the dog will fly forward accelerating as it does then come to a sudden stop with a 'snap' as the tether stops them going any further causing more injury than a shorter one which restricts how far they can go. It's akin to falling off a 10ft wall and a 1ft wall, the fall from the former will cause more damage than the latter.

For those who use tethers but allow the dog to be able to walk around I'm afraid you are still actually risking injuring your dog and not protecting them as much as you believe you are. Whilst it may seem kinder to let them have some 'potter' allowance it's putting them in danger. If you're gonna use a harness and tether do it right please or not at all.

As for using collapsible cages, they are flimsy and would only offer protection in a sudden stop if the cage is right up to the back of an immovable object, eg passenger seat.

Going back to harnesses and tethers the position of the dog should be in a similar place to a cage, ie behind an immovable object, not on a seat where they can be flung forward or fall sideways into no man's land.

Our dogs are not tethered but travel between the front seats with their beds up against the central dash locker, in an accident they wouldn't go far forward and there's no risk of harm from a harness. It is true that if it was really bad that they could 'escape' via a broken window, door etc, but that is an extremely unlikely occurrence so is an assessed and acceptable risk ... they're more likely to be clobbered by an idiotic cyclist but I still take them out for walks.

 

[mikash]

As for using collapsible cages, they are flimsy and would only offer protection in a sudden stop if the cage is right up to the back of an immovable object, eg passenger seat.

I'd just like to comment on this that the passenger seats aren't necessarily very immovable. In a passenger car, typically only the back seat back rest is designed to withstand the impact from the cargo shifting in the trunk up to a point, but the front seats will just fold and crush the occupant. Anything heavy in the back seat should therefore always be tied down.
And the last motorhome-specific crash test I read especially any passenger seats that were added by the converter struggled to protect even the seated and belted person and tended to disintegrate, deform, come loose or otherwise fail so I suspect they're even worse when it comes to impacts to the backrest.

 

[Minxy]

I'd just like to comment on this that the passenger seats aren't necessarily very immovable. In a passenger car, typically only the back seat back rest is designed to withstand the impact from the cargo shifting in the trunk up to a point, but the front seats will just fold and crush the occupant. Anything heavy in the back seat should therefore always be tied down.

I was talking in relation to a MH not a car but good to point it out.

And the last motorhome-specific crash test I read especially any passenger seats that were added by the converter struggled to protect even the seated and belted person and tended to disintegrate, deform, come loose or otherwise fail so I suspect they're even worse when it comes to impacts to the backrest.

The front passenger seat is the one I'm mainly talking about although some MH's do have rear passenger seats with space behind them for a cage but usually PVCs such as VW transporter types with a crash tested rear seat however the Chausson Flash S2 coachbuilt has this too due to it's unique layout, there are likely a few others too.

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[pappajohn]

Never had a problem with our old lad Jack and Buffy down below.
Then they changed the law.

 

[Shrimp]

As for using collapsible cages, they are flimsy and would only offer protection in a sudden stop if the cage is right up to the back of an immovable object, eg passenger seat.

Our ‘collapsible’ travel crate for Pip was metal and certainly not flimsy, it sat on the floor behind the driving seat and fixed there.
She now travels between my feet in the footwell.

 

[Minxy]

Our ‘collapsible’ travel crate for Pip was metal and certainly not flimsy, it sat on the floor behind the driving seat and fixed there.
She now travels between my feet in the footwell.

I'm referring to the collapsible fabric type 'cage/carriers' rather than the metal 'crates', although some of the latter can be quite flimsy - hubby used to sell them and refused to buy the cheaper thinner gauge wire ones as he didn't want to sell inferior products.