Dogs Need to Wear Seat Belts, Too. Here's Why

经过:艾莉森·特劳特纳(Allison Troutner)|

dog seat belt
Dogs need to wear seat belts in the car. Not just for their safety, but for yours, too.Milaspage/Shutterstock

A quick谷歌搜索在“车祸后失去的狗”将返回人类的大量令人心动的故事,这些故事在几天后(有时几周)与他们心爱的毛茸茸的朋友团聚。大多数狗要么是在重大事故中从汽车上弹出的,要么只是在混乱中逃跑。

Some dogs were found quickly,像漂亮的女孩,在亚特兰大以东的残骸中的第二天,佐治亚州骑兵在2020年被佐治亚州士兵送回了她的家人。

其他狗,例如8岁救援狗米娅, are more difficult to locate. She ran off after a bad accident in the middle of nowhere Colorado — at night in the snow. It took more than a month to find her; she was thin, scared and dirty, but relatively unscathed considering her adventure.

But for every Pretty Girl and Mia, there are those dogs that aren't so lucky. They end up lost forever or worse — dead. So aside from never taking your furry family on the road, what can you do? Put them in a dog seat belt.

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Most Dogs Don't Wear Seat Belts

我们不只是接受我们的dogs on walks; dogs keep us company on days-long road trips, kids' carpool at school and of course家庭假期。这National Pet Owners Surveysays that 40 percent of pet owners travel with their dogs. However, as we've shown, getting our pets from point A to point B can be dangerous if they're not properly restrained.

In 2019, Volvo and The Harris Poll conducted a study,Volvo Reports: Keeping Pets Safe on the Road, that found one-third of respondents would rather go on that road trip with their dog than their family, but two-thirds of them didn't think their dog would be safe in their car if there was an accident. However, they still allow their pets to roam unrestrained.

主人说,让他们的狗在车里放松似乎是一种文化规范。Georgina Ushi Phillips博士, a practicing veterinarian andveterinary writer

"We seem to have a bit of a blind spot for canine seatbelts and car safety," she says. "But in the event of a crash, inertia will send dogs, people and anything else in the car flying forward. A 60-pound [27.2-kilogram] dog becomes a 2,700-pound [1224.7-kilogram] projectile at 35 miles [56 kilometers] per hour."

乔丹·沙尔(Jordan Schaul)is a Ph.D. in conservation and comparative medicine and spent 12 years as an animal trainer and animal behavioral consultant. He experienced the danger of having his dog unrestrained firsthand when his rescue Doberman took a brutal hit on the dashboard of Schaul's car.

舍尔说:“他坐在前排座位上,非常努力地撞到仪表板;我非常担心。”“我知道比让他没有安全安全带坐下的要好。”

被狗分心
Letting your dog or puppy roam around the car unrestrained is a recipe for disaster, especially when they are allowed to climb up in the front seat near the driver.
Aleksandar Jankovic/Getty Images

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Dog Seat Belts Keep Pets and People Safe

这Volvo study also found that driving with an不受约束的狗isn't just unsafe for the dog, it's unsafe for everyone else, too. Hazardous driving behaviors翻了一番当狗与受约束时不受限制时。

但是宠物主人想要更安全的方法travel with their pets,安全带是答案吗?“狗安全带的目的是约束和安全。许多狗在汽车上跳来跳去,可能试图跳入驾驶员的膝盖,这可能会导致汽车事故。”贾斯汀·帕吉特(Justin Padgett),阿拉巴马州奥登维尔的Branchville动物医院的兽医。“如果事故发生事故,狗还需要将狗束缚在安全点上,以防止它们从车辆上弹出。"

Schaul takes that one step further and says that dog seat belts are beneficial to pets and humans after accidents, too.

他说:“安全带可以安全的狗,这些狗可能会干扰急救人员。”“如果狗在碰撞的现场变得松动,它可以大力捍卫其主人,尤其是如果所有者无行为能力。”

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哪个狗安全带最好?

Experts agree that dog seat belts are the best way to keep your pup safe in the car. But there are so many in various designs on the market — everything from拉链线装置that give them room to roam, to thick,带衬垫的安全带看起来更像BabyBjörns。How do you know which is right for your dog?

Padgett解释说:“大多数狗安全带都将动物绑在座椅上,并固定在安全带上。”“安全带是首选,而不仅仅是项圈,因为它包含多个接触点,不会像脖子那样给一个身体部位施加太多压力。我建议使用安全带安全地固定在座椅上的线束安全带车辆。”

菲利普斯说,良好的安全带也意味着牵引牵引力很短。她说:“狗安全带最常见的缺点之一是tethers太久了。”“尽管这为狗提供了更多的探索自由,但它可以通过让惯性使狗飞行来完全消除安全带的好处。”

狗安全带也不适合每个小狗。Schaul说,还需要考虑大小和气质。他解释说:“中和小型狗通常更适合狗座椅,而较大的狗更适合安全带。”咀嚼的狗或幼犬在携带者中的表现也比安全带更好。

在宠物店选择狗的问题的问题在于,没有宠物安全崩溃测试的正式标准。宠物产品行业可以将产品标记为“经过崩溃的”或“安全批准”,而无需任何实际数据或证明以支持它。

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经过碰撞测试,宠物安全批准的中心

Between 2013 and 2015, the宠物安全中心(CPS),非营利性宠物安全组织,crash-tested几个宠物安全带,携带者和板条箱,并获得了斯巴鲁的资金。在这些测试中,没有实际的狗受到伤害。CPS使用了三只不同大小的虚拟狗进行线束测试,包括25磅(11公斤)梗犬,45磅重的(20公斤)边界牧羊犬和75磅重(34公斤)的金毛猎犬。经过严格的测试以FMVSS 213标准进行建模 - 相同用于验证child safety seatsonly three harnessesachieved the final crash-test certifications.

Rocketeer seat belt
这Rocketeer Pack is just one of three crash-tested pet safety harnesses certified by Center for Pet Safety.
Zugopet

Phillips recommends a harness, especially crash-tested ones, by reliable sources like CPS. "That doesn't mean that only seat belts tested by the CPS are safe," she says. "Many other brands use their own第三方测试用于碰撞测试。有足够多的品牌对某种类型的崩溃测试进行了测试,人们应该坚持使用具有一些现实数据来支持它的品牌。”

Phillips says the main problem with a harness or restraint is if it's too big or too small. So be sure you get one that fits properly. "Harnesses that are too large could be dangerous as they could encourage dogs to try and wiggle out," she says. "Harnesses and seatbelts that are too tight could cause chaffing or skin irritation, more so if dogs are constantly testing the limits of their restraint."

它们不仅是与您一起旅行的最安全的方式,而且法律要求宠物约束five U.S. states:康涅狄格州,明尼苏达州,新罕布什尔州和罗德岛。华盛顿特区有“分散注意力的2004年驾驶安全法" and it includes interacting with pets. Violating any of these laws could result in fines or even jail time. It's worth taking a few minutes to review the law in your state.

If you're ready to take on the open road with your furry side-car sidekick, Phillips has suggestions to get started. "Let dogs wear the harness in the house while playing. The goal is to make only positive associations with the harness. Patience, praise and treats will help," she explains. "Once dogs are calm and comfortable in their harness, it's time to hit the road!"

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