Large dogs in large saloons

[Equus]

OK, so at the moment I run a FFRR, with its boot pretty much permanently occupied by my English Pointer.

Trouble is, I'm getting bored, fancy a change, and none of the alternative estate cars or 4x4's particularly appeals - the stuff that I'm really tempted by is all performance/luxury saloons... S-class Mercedes, Jaguar XJR's, Maserati Quattroportes, that sort of thing.

Does anyone have any experience of running a large saloon with one of these dog hammock type things in the back? Is it a practical alternative to an SUV for regular canine use?

[psi310398]

I used to have this issue with my Norwegian Elkhound until he died.

My FFRR with dog guard was by far safer than having the dog in the cabin of my saloons (X300 and Panamera).

Being free to sit up and look out, he was generally happy to curl up and sleep. When in a saloon, I had a harness arrangement which fitted to a rear seatbelt but the dog didn't like it much as he wanted to see out. Elkhounds can be quite bloody-minded, so he used to "fidget" and generally be quite distracting. In the end, I only put him in the saloons if he had a human companion there with him.

The other problem (much worse with an Elkhound than most dogs) was the amount of moult left on car seats.

He was happiest sitting in the passenger seat of my Alfa Spider (harnessed up)!

Unless your dog is extremely obedient/calm, I'd consider getting an estate/shooting brake version of any saloon you like.

Peter

[Xtriple129]

My two (Lab and a BIG Basset) sit in the back of my cars (and in the front of the Mazda!) and love it. They have an open window each and peer out until speed becomes a tad high when they lay down. As soon as speed drops, back out the window pops a pair of heads. They both have harnesses that clip into the seat belts (takes a couple of seconds) and they are safe and happy.

Personally, I never put my dogs in the boot. The back of a car is a crumple zone and I don't want them in one thank you. Round here, rear end impacts are at epidemic levels and I prefer my dogs to be inside the safety cell rather than...

Yes, we did have a V70 with dog guards etc but they still sat in the car.

[Equus]

psi310398 said:

Unless your dog is extremely obedient/calm, I'd consider getting an estate/shooting brake version of any saloon you like.

Therein lies my problem, unfortunately - they don't do estate/shooting brake versions of the cars I like.

Audis and BMW's leave me cold, through no fault of their own, and the Mercedes E-class is a big step down in quality from the S-class.

To be fair, he is extremely calm when in the back of the car.

I'm assuming I don't need a harness with a back seat 'hammock'? He tolerates harnesses, but is too dumb not to get tangled up.

[CAPP0]

I'm in a similar position. The boot of my FFRR is usually occupied by my two GSDs.

The "compromise" which I'm currently considering is to sell MrsC's car, keep the FFRR, get something else interesting which we both like, and we have two cars between us, the FFRR and the newbie. Don't now yet, early days in the thought process!

[psi310398]

Equus said:

I'm assuming I don't need a harness with a back seat 'hammock'? He tolerates harnesses, but is too dumb not to get tangled up.

I would look very carefully at how secure it would be in the event of sudden deceleration.

Modern cars will allow you to survive head-on impacts but five stone of Elkhound hitting me from behind at terminal velocity would have been fatal for him and probably for me.

Regarding keeping dogs in the rear, I've never seen a FFRR rear compartment seriously compromised by a collision! The other car takes the brunt.

Peter

[Equus]

psi310398 said:

Modern cars will allow you to survive head-on impacts but five stone of Elkhound hitting me from behind at terminal velocity would have been fatal for him and probably for me.

I must admit, I'm not particularly risk averse, so that doesn't concern me: I've been driving for over 30 years and never had an accident, and I drive more steadily these days than I ever have. Obviously, that's not to say it will never happen, but I judge it a fairly low risk, so one I'm willing to take.

I'm more bothered about the legal situation if stopped by the police - my understanding is that dogs must simply be 'suitably restrained' so that they can't cause distraction when driving, and unless there is specific case law that says otherwise, I'd be happy that a hammock would do the job for my dog: he's not prone to seeking attention when he's in a car, so he'd be unlikely to try to get into the front or anything like that.

[smashie]

My Dogs, German Shorthaired Pointer and Springer, go on the back seat. They are harnessed in and I have one of those car hammock things protecting the seats. I prefer to use the boot of my estate for Stuff and the boot in my i3 is just too small.

[Equus]

What sort of harness do you use for the GSP?

[smashie]

Equus said:

What sort of harness do you use for the GSP?

Not sure. I'll take a look when he is back from his walks. We have recently changed harnesses. Used to be an RAC harness which worked well, but a bit thin on the straps and not much protection for him if we were to be in an accident.
We also do not use the webbing type straps to clip them in, we use the chain dog couplers. It means he cannot chew through it. He has already chewed through a couple of webbing straps.
We used to use a Hunter Safeline harness with our previous Collie and that was really good, but it just does not fit our GSP's build that well. A larger/smaller would be too big/small for him.

[Orchid1]

This thread reminds me of this website, some great pics;

http://martinusborne.com/dogs-in-cars/

[HappyMidget]

I have a hammock in the back of my VXR8 for my Staffie. Ok, not a large dog but it works very well. We do also use a harness on him with a restraint that clips into the seatbelt socket.

[smashie]

Equus said:

What sort of harness do you use for the GSP?

Turns out we are using the Ancol harness now for him. Size Large.
Harness

Here is the hammock in my i3. Both dogs will fit in there.