CHESAPEAKE, Va. — What’s the first thing you do when you get in your car? Odds are you buckle up!
Shockingly, when traveling with our pets in the car only 16 percent are properly restrained.
Stats often have the most impact so listen to this: an 80-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph can exert 2,400 pounds of force. Well, you say you have a small dog they’re alright. Not the case, a 10-pound dog at 50 mph can exert 500 pounds of force.
The impact would be fatal for the dog.
Let’s prevent this. It’s easy to do, it’s as easy as clicking your own seatbelt to ensure you’re safe. Welcome to the world of dog restraints and to learn more we re-visited Care-A-Lot Pet Supply in Virginia Beach.
There are restraints for dogs of all sizes and shapes.
“There are so many people on the roads with their pets," said Nadine from Care-A-Lot. "We love traveling with our pets and unfortunately, they do cause distractions once in a while because they are so stinking cute and we always want to give them our attention which isn’t always the safest”
There are countless options but here are a few:
“This is more for a dog that sits still in the car,” said Nadine.
There’s the zipline that attaches to fixed points in your car for those pets that need a little wiggle room.
“The leash runs on the zipline so they still have freedom of movement in the back of the car,” Nadine said.
More simple solutions are the seatbelt tethers.
There is a group of products by a company named Kurgo who actually go the lengths to crash test their products with actual dummy dogs to rate their effectiveness.
If you’re wondering if these are hard to get on and off your dog and also properly implement in your car, we tested it out with Bentley and it doesn’t take long at all. And really, if it means keeping your dog safe in a crash, isn’t that extra time worth it?