At least a third of Tennessee residents allow their dogs to travel unrestrained in a vehicle, an alarming statistic according to a Cookeville professional dog trainer.
The new AAA survey just released. Chynna Legg said identifying high-quality safety gear is the most important step toward traveling safely with dogs in the vehicle.
“Well I would say probably the safest restraint for a dog is to be crated,” Legg said. “In a crate that has been crash tested. And there are several on the market. I personally use Roughland Kennels myself.”
Legg said while harnesses and seat belt hookups are better than letting a dog ride loose, owners need to know how a collar can hurt an animal during a sudden stop. Legg said using a harness ensures that if you get into a wreck, the pressure is distributed safely across the dog’s chest instead of pulling against their throat.
“The most important to distinguish there is I’m saying harness not collar because a harness, if you were to be in a collision in a wreck or whatever, all of the pressure the dog is going to experience is going to be around their chest area not around their throat,” Legg said.
Legg said she personally relies on specialized, heavy-duty crates to keep dogs secure during travel. Legg said investing in highly rated, crash-tested brands because the molded construction eliminates sharp components that could injure a dog in transit.
“There’s no metal, so there’s no way that they can cut themselves or anything like that,” Legg said. “It’s all one smooth piece of plastic in there. So there’s no sharp edges or anything to worry about in that regard either.”
Legg said managing anxious or high-energy canine behaviors in a vehicle ultimately requires dedicated behavioral practice rather than relying entirely on safety equipment alone. Legg said proper travel composure is a learned behavior that must be consistently developed at home to prevent pets from pulling a driver’s focus off the roadway.
“Repetition,” Legg said. “Riding nicely in a car, whether it be in a crate or out of a [crate], however that’s occurring, that’s a skill. If you take a high-drive dog, they have a ton of energy in your house, that’s not going to change in a car. So the very simple answer to that is training. It’s just one more good reason to give your dog the skill of being crate trained or being taught to be calm, because that is something that not every dog is just born with. Most dogs, that is a learned skill. Being calm is a learned skill.”
