Cars

How to Keep Your Pets Safe While Traveling in a Car

Advice and tips on how to safely travel with your furry friends.

Restraining your pets is as much about your safety as theirs. If a vehicle brakes abruptly or is involved in a crash, an unrestrained pet of any size can hurtle through the cabin, becoming a dangerous projectile that can cause injuries. According to the pet advocacy group BarkBuckleUp, a 60-pound dog in a car traveling 35 mph can turn into a 2,700-pound projectile in an accident!

Consumer Reports offers their advice on how to keep your furry friends safe when traveling in a car.

Be Careful: Research Shows That Anyone Could Forget a Kid in a Hot Car

"Forgetting children is a common memory failure that can lead to tragic consequences"

If parents believe they would never forget their child in a hot car, they should think again. It can happen to anyone.

Since 1998, about 950 children have died in hot cars and more than half of them were left behind unknowingly by their caregiver, according to NoHeatStroke.org.

A leading expert in cognitive neuroscience who has studied the role of memory in such tragedies has found that the stresses parents face in everyday life can make these memory lapses more likely.

Forgetting a child is not a negligence problem but a memory problem, says David Diamond, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

“The most common response is that only bad or negligent parents forget kids in cars,” Diamond says. “It’s a matter of circumstances. It can happen to everyone.”

This updated, June 2023 article from Consumer Reports is an eye opener and a reminder that this awful experience can happen to anyone!

What Action(s) Can You Take if You See a Dog Trapped in a Hot Car?

An article found on Autoblog discusses what actions you can take if you find a dog locked in a hot car.

Pet Heat Safety

Tips to Keep Your Pets Safe During Summer

The following tips are provided by The Humane Society of the United States:

. Never leave your pet in the car.

In nice weather you may be tempted to take your pet with you in the car while you travel or do errands. But during warm weather, the inside of your car can reach 120 degrees in a matter of minutes, even if you're parked in the shade. This can mean real trouble for your companion animals left in the car.

If you do happen to see a pet alone in a car during hot weather, alert the management of the store where the car is parked. If the owner does not return promptly, call local animal control or the police department immediately.

. Don't put your pet in the back of a truck.

It is very dangerous, and in some states illegal, to drive with a dog in the back of a pick-up truck. Not only can flying debris cause serious injury, but a dog may be unintentionally thrown into traffic if the driver suddenly hits the brakes, swerves or is hit by another car. Dogs should ride either in the cab (in a crate or wearing a seat belt harness designed for dogs) or in a secured crate in the bed of the truck.

. Watch out for fertilizers and deadly plants.

Plant food, fertilizer and insecticides can be fatal if your pet ingests them. In addition, more than 700 plants can produce physiologically active or toxic substances in sufficient amounts to cause harmful effects in animals.

. Provide plenty of fresh water.

To avoid pet heat exhaustion, make sure your pets have access to cool, fresh water all day long.

. Stay bite-free.

With people and dogs spending more time outside, dog bites are likely to increase in the warmer months. Spaying or neutering your dog reduces the likelihood that he will bite and provides many other health benefits.

. Keep your pets safe and healthy year-round.

Make sure your pet is always wearing a collar and identification tag. If you are separated from your pet, an ID tag may very well be his or her ticket home.

. Check with your veterinarian to see if your pets should be taking heartworm prevention medication.

Heartworm disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, can be fatal in both dogs and cats.

. Another warm weather threat is fleas and ticks.

Use only flea and tick treatments recommended by your veterinarian. Some over-the-counter flea and tick products can be toxic, even when used according to instructions.

Car Safety for Dogs: Training Your Dog to Ride in the Car

The American Kennel Club offers some guidelines for training your dog to ride safely in a car.