Dogs travelling in motorhomes

[Trev45]

Reading another thread a member was asked what he did with his dogs when travelling and he replied '' I don't do anything with them they just amuse themselves ''. Rule 57 of the Highway Code states '' When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you or themselves if you stop quickly''. Does anyone comply with this legislation ?

 

[VXman]

Every dog is different. Some dogs can be relied upon to do what they're told and just sit and never move when in a vehicle.

Snow and Curt on you tube travel with 2 cats . One roams all over the place and often sits on the dash when travelling!

 

[olley]

Nope, cat sits on the wife's lap or snoozes on the couch.

 

[Fragle]

No. Ruby heads straight to her bed in the passenger footwell. Never been a problem.

 

[Miggs]

Hey Tam, I found another one for you!

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[AlunandFelicie]

Both ours are restrained ,for their safety as much as anything else ,we dread to think what might happen in an emergency situation otherwise.

 

[Speve]

Yes always in a cage that is strapped on the seat with seat beltsin Spain our friends last year got stopped and fined for having their Yorkie sat on their lap €80 fine

 

[Sneds]

Our dog, Dylan, is restrained but on a long lead to allow him to move about a bit but he usually settles in the passenger footwell or between the front seats with access to food and water.

 

[TheBig1]

Merlin is attached to a chain bolted to the floor and onto his harness. A 20kg dog flying through the air in a crash will injure you both. I have always restrained my dogs in all vehicles. For their safety and mine.

Oh I use chain as in the past he has chewed through webbing leads and even steel cable

 

[RustyRuss]

I put a spring loaded shackle in the floor and use a stretchy y shaped lead to secure our two, a Samoyed and a Yorkshire terrorist.

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[Landy Andy]

My dog does as he wishes. Which is sleeping in his bed.

 

[HKF]

Why do people risk their animals being thrown around in the event of an accident or heavy braking? My greatest fear would be if we had an accident and my little dog ran away through fear. Or that she was thrown around like a rag dog, smashing into things. What would someone do in that scenario? It's crazy and irresponsible to leave animals loose. My dog is always in a harness on a seatbelt. We make enough stops for toileting and food/water breaks.

Stop putting your animals at risk. It's not clever.

 

[bigwood]

Considering our muttly is a rescue dog and may have never traveled in a motorhome he is quite happy to wedge himself between the front seats with his harness on that is fastened to the seat base by a short tether. I always keep the two centre air vents blowing fresh air on him.
Seeing dogs traveling on passengers or even drivers laps winds me up. The driver and passenger are by law restrained but the poor dog becomes a missile in an accident.

 

[Nanniemate]

 

[ontheroadagain]

Our (small) dog sleeps in his bed on the floor between the two front seats. As long as the motorhome is moving he will remain there. He loves to get the cool breeze from the air con.
He is never restrained and I do sometimes wonder what would happen if we had an accident, but to be honest most restrains and harnesses would do more harm than good as very few of them are crash tested.

Edit - as shown above.

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[dazandandrea]

both ours stay in their beds in the back .

 

[Landy Andy]

I’d prefer my dog to be shoved into the back of the passenger seat, whilst he is in his bed, rather than to be twanged about on the end of a chain or rope like playing conkers.

 

[Nanniemate]

Rules about animals - Other animals (56 to 58)

Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders.

www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk

The video is Australian post 14

 

[Dickyb]

Harness secured to the seatbelt anchor point, sleeps between the two seats, always give her a good run before a long journey, she doesn’t normally stir till we stop or she gets a whiff of the sea, generally we don’t do more than a couple of hours before a break 3 at the most, not in any hurry we’re retired

 

[ceejayt]

I think this is a tough one. Firstly, unlike cars, where a motorhome has just two belted seats for driver and passenger there is no obvious seat belt point (or possibly any point) to securely fasten the dog to.

We have two labs and tried variously attaching them to stuff but the younger one is ver clever and will release herself from most restraints and if she can’t release herself she releases the older dog. I swear, if she had opposable thumbs she could pick a lock!

We have settled on an expandable steel fence that runs behind the two front seats which completely denies them access to the driver passenger area of the vehicle. No window can be left open and the exit door has to be double locked as the younger one would certainly open it.

Confined to the rear they generally just lie down and go to sleep.

I hold my hands up, it’s not perfect but it works for us. Our major concern is not letting the dogs interfere with driving and restricting their access completely to that area.

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[Rjcamper]

Having crashed our first Moho a few years ago, we now always secure our 2 dogs. It was just luck there weren't injured... our German shepherd who was near the rear ended up around my feet and the pedals, our toy Yorkshire terrier had just got off SWMBO's lap and in her bed which slid under the dash area. If she hadn't she would have hit the screen

Most of the cupboard contents showered all of us and this was a relatively low speed impact at around 25 - 30 mph

Please secure your 4 legged family, you never know when an idiot driver is going to turn up...

 

[Nanniemate]

I think this is a tough one. Firstly, unlike cars, where a motorhome has just two belted seats for driver and passenger there is no obvious seat belt point (or possibly any point) to securely fasten the dog to.

We have two labs and tried variously attaching them to stuff but the younger one is ver clever and will release herself from most restraints and if she can’t release herself she releases the older dog. I swear, if she had opposable thumbs she could pick a lock!

We have settled on an expandable steel fence that runs behind the two front seats which completely denies them access to the driver passenger area of the vehicle. No window can be left open and the exit door has to be double locked as the younger one would certainly open it.

Confined to the rear they generally just lie down and go to sleep.

I hold my hands up, it’s not perfect but it works for us. Our major concern is not letting the dogs interfere with driving and restricting their access completely to that area.

We had a houdini dog excellent escape artist nightmare to manage.

 

[BusyBuilder]

We have our Pointer between the passenger and driver seats, he lays there quite content. We also had a head on crash into a car that had pulled out on us on the A9, we were doing about 45-50mph. I stood on the brakes before we collided and Stanley (the Pointer) was okay where he was and unharmed. We still travel this way.

 

[Rjcamper]

Both have beds, seat belt attachments and travel in comfort

 

[Langtoftlad]

Reading another thread a member was asked what he did with his dogs when travelling and he replied '' I don't do anything with them they just amuse themselves ''. Rule 57 of the Highway Code states '' When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you or themselves if you stop quickly''. Does anyone comply with this legislation ?

The Highway Code is British - the poster to which you refer is not travelling in Britain .

I think it's up to the individual to assess their dogs and implement the best for them & their driver.

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[varaizian]

On a short but strong fabric leash attached to a passenger seatbelt mount and clipped to a harness; not her collar.. A serious collision might break her neck like that! Allows her to reach between the front seats but no further. She is around 28kg so could do a lot of damage completely free. People must do their own risk analysis and be prepared to accept the consequences if they are unlucky and get it wrong. We are fairly risk-averse so have chosen to be cautious.

 

[varaizian]

My approach is also coloured by a "priority-a-droit" incident a few years back when I wrote off a Golf (with excellent modern brakes) hitting a builder's truck on an unmarked and completely blind crossroad. If driving in France make sure you fully understand this rule; which some think no longer applies. It is very much alive and functioning. The collision, incidentally, was judged to be entirely my fault! Apologies for slight swerve off-topic.

 

[vkr15s]

Our dog, Dylan, is restrained but on a long lead to allow him to move about a bit but he usually settles in the passenger footwell or between the front seats with access to food and water.

My Schitzu Olly is exactly the same. Spends most of his time at the wife’s feet. Brave dog!

 

[Fragle]

My Schitzu Olly is exactly the same. Spends most of his time at the wife’s feet. Brave dog!

Don't we all.

 

[lorger]

We used to put ours in his canvas cage then securely placed against the back of the passenger seat under the table

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