Riding in a car with your boxer

[Bathel]

Cerbs just chills in the front seat or will jump into the back seat and lay down on the longer rides. I've never used a restraint for any dog I've owned, and until reading this I never would have imagined so many people do. She'll stick her head out the window unless we're going above 45. I also had to teach her that when I say "shift" she'll brace or otherwise she goes flying when I hit the clutch.

The harness is incase of an accident. If you hit someone or rearend someone at any speed your pup goes flying. A harness can cut the risk of serious injury just like you wearng a seatbelt. I wouldn't dream of driving my pup around in the car without a harness on for that one reason alone. On top of that... I've had a friend with a French Bulldog pup that jumped out the window while traveling 45 mph... wasn't a happy day.

The harness I use clips into a locked seatbelt (like when you lock it for a baby carrier). She can slid up and down the chest strap to move around a bit in the back seat and even stick her head out the window...

 

[rrboxer]

When we brought Lacy back home from breeder I sat in back seat with her on my lap. I actually had a chew toy, her little sleeping cushion which I placed on my knee. She slept the entire ride home. But after that we started training her to wear seat belt harness when she was about 12 weeks old. But after her 1st ride home and between 12 weeks we used a hard crate until she became really comfortable with her seat belt harness by that time she kinda grew out of her first plastic crate-it worked out fine.

 

[BoxerMomKris]

I use a short leash to restrain Rocky, and he sits on the passenger seat beside me. It gives him enough room to sit up or lie down, but not really enough to stick his head out the window (probably because he's still too small!). He's an extremely good car dog. I'm so happy about that. We don't take him with us very often anymore because of the high temperatures outside, and our A/C doesn't work in the car, so I can't leave him in there when I run into a store with the kids. :-\

 

[yrichard]

If you use a crate, do you restrain it or somehow clip it in? I'm getting a puppy in the fall and am starting to gather up some great info!