Not only that, but your dog will be “safe” if you break hard all of a sudden.
If you have a big dog and your driving on your own then it’s best to place your dog in the car boot with a dog guard so he or she can’t jump over the back seat and distract you and this way your dog will be secure.
Depending on which country you are from they are some rules you need to take into account when traveling with your dog in the car.
If you have someone, a friend maybe that is traveling with you and can sit in the passenger seat while holding your dog then this should be fine.
If your dog is unrestrained and is moving around this can also cause you to take your eyes off the road and that could be considered to be driving ‘without due care and attention and if you were to get into an accident as a result of being distracted the penalty can be severe.
Where Should a Dog Sit in the Car?
Your dog should sit in a crate and not the footwell while you travel. You can safely sit your dog using a divider between the back seat and the load area to restrain it in the back area. You can use a crate to enhance containment so that the dog is safer even if the rear window breaks on a rollover.
Alternatively, you can have your pooch in the rear seat belt and harness, or in the cargo to protect it from getting hurt from sudden brakes, but not in the front seat with or without a carrier.
Meanwhile, be careful not to invest in a load divider that is inferiorly built with unreliable materials. You can purchase a load divider fitted with bolts to the vehicle frame. If your load divider easily gets ripped with the hands, you need another that can sustain an impact to protect your dog.
Can dogs travel in the front seat of a car?
Dogs can travel in the front of the car, however, you must ensure to switch off the passenger- side airbag and move the seat as far back as possible.
I took my husky on an airplane…and he loved it!
I grew up with dogs who always travelled in the front footwell of the car but now that we are planning to get our own dog I am wondering where is the best/safest place for it to travel. Thanks in advance 
My dog has a seatbelt harness and normally is in a towel on the back seat. If she is really muddy she goes in a travel crate in the boot that folds down when I dont need to use it.
In a crate fixed in the boot of our estate car, or (less often) behind a dog guard in the boot of our hatchback. I think on a back seat secured with a harness attached to a seatbelt is also ok. Unsecured anywhere in the car is a disaster/accident waiting to happen. Ive treated several dogs injured as passengers in RTAs.
Old dog is in the boot Puppy is in a crate in the back We have a 7 seated though
Thanks, I think we will start off with a harness on the back seat and see how we go from there. I have a largish car but we often use the seats in the boot so we need a alternative
My dog has a clip that attaches to her harness at one end and to the car seat belt at the other. I feel happy that shes safely attached that way. I know an awful lot of people who let their dogs flap around in the car completely unrestrained – one person I know has one on the back seat and one on her lap – terrifies me to think what would happen in an accident.
Bumbledog has a harness and a dog seatbelt in the back of the car. He used to sit with me in the back until the time he got his head wedged between the seat and where you pull the seatbelt down. My sister was then about to drive round a double bend and the passenger seat started shaking! She was not amused in the least and steps were swiftly taken!!
We have our dog in a crate in the boot. It has been necessary to use a roof box for getting all the luggage in when travelling on longer trips, especially when we have had buggies for the DDs, but its totally worth it in our opinion. DDog started off a nervous passenger but treats the crate as her own space and is now quite calm in there. Its as natural for us to crate her in the car as it is to put the DC in car seats.
Well, I was pretty ambivalent about it until someone I know had a terrible accident when their dog jumped out of the footwell without warning. They crashed and spent three months in hospital with internal injuries. My dog wears a dog seatbelt in the back.
DDog is in a crate in the boot of our car, we had to get a bigger car as she slid about in the boot of our hatchback and the crate didnt fit, she now loves travelling and DS sings songs to her and she will happily sleep on long journeys.
In the boot if buggy and other stuff isnt in there, otherwise in middle seat on a harness and dog seatbelt in between DCs.
Has anyone got recommendations for car harnesses which Houdini pup cant wriggle out of in 5 seconds flat? Eve tried two now 🙁 we cant fit a crate in the car easily as we have a 7 seater which doesnt really have a proper boot
We still use front footwell due to dog being travel sick, too large for a crate in the boot and the position of the carseat in the back.
In the back of SUV behind the dog grill. But his favourite car is mine in summer sitting in the passenger seat when Ive got the roof down – he doesnt half get some admiring glances!
That one and that one are the only crash tested ones I know of.
On back seats with a car hammock at first, but very messy with mud etc. seats were damp, doors etc muddy, hair everywhere, not ideal. Also distracting. Got new car which is an estate and hes in boot now, much better. If you plan to do more than odd visit to vets I would go for the boot every time now.
Mine sits on the backseat on his blanket with a harness ,he loves the car and is in it several times a week . If its wet/muddy he sits in an old coat that I adapted into a type of dog bag so he drys by the time we get home and the seats dont get wet/muddy.
In a crate in the boot if we are travelling for more than 15 minutes. Its a big crate but it fits both of them and as our younger dog is often travel sick its good to have the vomit contained. I watched a programme in which police were trying to catch a dog who had escaped after an accident and decided I didnt want to go through that. Our local journeys are all on roads with a speed limit of 30 (and as were in London thats optimistic).
My Houdini undid his harness by standing on it three times tonight on a seven mile journey to agility! Once ten yards from the house, once three miles from home and lastly on the farm drive as we arrived! Not amused!
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