With the warmer weather and summer vacations starting soon, more people will be driving with their pets in the car, but that can pose a lot of dangers to you, your pet and other drivers.
Marcy Kronz loves her dogs like family, including Joker, a 6-year-old golden retriever who’s traveled all the way to the Westminster Dog Show in Great Britain.
“He’s a show dog who also competes in AKC Hunt Fest, and he’s my best friend, most importantly,” Kronz says.
Kronz travels with Joker secured in a crate, but many pet owners don’t. She knows a fellow competitor who was in a car crash with her dogs, and the results were tragic.
“[I know an] agility competitor that was in a bad car accident. She was unconscious. They didn’t even know she had dogs, and unfortunately, that didn’t turn out so well. They didn’t find either dog alive.”
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Melinda Bondarekna has seen all kinds of accidents involving pets, including animals killed when they’re thrown from the back of a pick-up truck and accidents caused from an animal getting underneath the brake pedal.
“You can’t react the way you need to by hitting that brake to get stopped in an amount of time where you need to get stopped. Then you find yourself in a crash, and you’re injured, and somebody else is injured, and maybe that animal gets injured too,” Bondarenka said.
Kronz says the safest way to travel with a dog or cat is to put them in a crate and secure the crate to the vehicle with a seatbelt or cord. A hard-walled crate is safest because it will protect your animal in an accident. The next best is a wire crate, which is not as strong but can be easier to transport because it’s lighter and folds. A fabric crate will keep your animal from running around the vehicle but won’t protect him in a crash. Another option to restrain your dog in a vehicle is in a harness with a seatbelt, but it’s not as safe as a crate because they are not as contained, but it’s better than letting the animal roam free.
Having a dog or cat in the car can seem like fun, but it’s anything but fun if it leads to an accident and you or your animal is hurt.
“I’d love to have the dog sit next to me, just your best friend ride next to you, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself [if something bad happened,]” Kronz says.
“A lot of people, at least in my interaction with them, talk about their pet being part of the family, and I said, ‘Would you want your human child to be in the vehicle and in the position that you have your pet in?’ That makes them stop and think,” Bondarenka said.
Bondarenka says while it’s not illegal to travel with your pet unsecured, there can be traffic or criminal violations for not humanely transporting your dog or pet and clearly for causing a crash.
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