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Trips With Pets: Pet seat belts save lives

by jmaloni

Submitted

Sat, May 31st 2014 07:00 am

Traveling with pets has never been more popular amongst pet parents. Traveling by car is by far the most common mode of pet travel and dogs are the most frequent travelers. "Want to go for a ride?" is music to a dog's ears. They go just about everywhere with their parents, running errands around town, to beaches and parks, going on family vacations, and staying in pet-friendly hotels. If pets are welcome, they come along!

Unfortunately, most pet parents do not properly secure their pets when riding with them in their vehicles. They love their pets and would do anything for them, but probably don't realize they are putting their pets at great risk.

Did you know that at only 35 mph, a 60-pound pet becomes a 2,700-pound projectile, and that unsecured pets commonly escape from vehicles and run off post-accident? How often are you distracted by your excited or rambunctious pet while driving? Did you know that driver distraction causes more accidents than anything else?

Securing your pet during car travel is essential to ensuring his safety. There are many ways to properly secure your pet in a vehicle. Buckling him up in pet seatbelt is a very easy and affordable way to help ensure your pet stays safe while traveling in your vehicle. Pet seatbelts range in price from about $9-$40. They come in different sizes to accommodate most pets, and many are adjustable.

Most pet seatbelts attach onto your vehicle's seatbelt. Some come with leads that have a buckle at one end that fits into your vehicle's seat belt receptacle, and the other end of the lead has a clip that attaches onto your pet's harness. Other pet seatbelts have leads that have a loop at one end in which you put your vehicle's seatbelt strap through, and the other end has a clip that attaches to a harness.

If you choose to give your pet more freedom in the back seat, you can get a pet seatbelt that has a zip line that attaches between the two rear passenger side handles, creating a tether that attaches to your pet's harness.

No matter what type of pet seatbelt you choose, you must always use a harness - never a collar. A collar can easily choke or strangle your pet if you stop fast or are in an accident. In addition, pets should never ride in the front seat. Deployed airbags can seriously injure pets.

With pet travel growing by leaps and bounds, pet parents must step up and be sure to take the necessary measures to ensure their pet's safety. Pet seatbelts are an effective way to do this.

Safe travels and please buckle up your precious pets!

TripsWithPets.com is an online resource for pet travel. Named best pet travel site by Consumer Reports, TripsWithPets.com's mission is to offer resources that ensure pets are welcome, happy and safe while traveling. The website features a directory of pet-friendly hotels and accommodations across the U.S. and Canada, as well as airline and car rental pet policies; pet-friendly restaurants, beaches and events; a user-friendly route search option; pet travel tips; pet travel supplies; and other pet travel resources.

Author Kim Salerno is the president and founder of TripsWithPets.com. She founded the pet travel site in 2003 and is an expert in the field of pet travel.

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