LOl I liked the Pods! - nice idea that they are traveling beds too. I work tomorrow north of the city & there is a delux pet store nearby - I'm going in to see what he has.
I don't have Lilly or a dog yet - as you know. I want to be ready though. I sourced the dry food to PJ pets - althoughthey do sell dogs & cats which the manufacturer says is against their mandate. I am not saying this to them as I hope my near location carries it! I never thought a dog would need a booster! lol Our Sckipperke stayed on the car floor. Our cat slept in the rear window - lol lovely memories from the pre-seat belt era. Later on, I used to buckle my Dob like a person. That was after the terrible day we went thru a car wash together - very quickly cause she hit the drive and sat in my lap & my foot hit the gas. The attendant was not sympathetic! The collies would just lie in the back. You have been so helpful - thanks for all your info. ________________________________ From: Deanna Corey <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 3:30:53 PM Subject: [Chihuahuas] Car Seats Hi Jacqueline, I use a combo of options depending on the vehicle and the dogs I am taking. With my 5 little ones at this point they are all in car seats and wear sturdy fleece lined car seat halters that are then buckled into the car seat which is then buckeled into the car with the seat belt. I Use two car seats...3 of the littlest in one and 2 in the other...here is the link to the car seats I have: http://www.snoozerpetproducts.com/large-lookout-pet-car-seat-p-145.html They are pretty big, soft, roomy yet sturdy but together they both take up my whole back seat of my SUV. They can see out and no getting car sick going up and down the mountain in these! When I am just taking 1, I have a car seat made for one by Pet Gear. http://www.1800petmeds.com/product.jsp?id=prod60770&sku=60770&MID=1616&CID=11994 For the two Chihuahuas, Myrtle and Mouse I also use this one below if I need a carrier or bed at our destination: http://www.myoutwardhound.com/petge3bibaca.html?productid=petge3bibaca&channelid=NEXTA I recently read a crash study done in Germany on dog safety in cars. Their findings were a little scary for me. Their reports indicated the safest way to travel with a dog was with the dog in a plastic airline approved crate that just fit them...not a lot of extra room...and was teathered down behind the front seats on the floor...not buckeled into a seat. While I believe their study, for my situation it doesn't work. #1-I have too many dogs and #2-the space between my front and back seats would not fit the kennel size they need. I am very tall 5'10" so my seat is usually all the way back. Plus...I would only be able to take 2 even if I could have my seat more forward. When and if my present car seats wear out I really would like to replace them with Sleepy-Pods. I saw them at a dog show last year and thought they were amazing. They are doing crash test studies with them right now and they seem to be testing well in what I have read so far. The hitch with these though is I need 5 places to belt them in...which will be just fine when I replace my current vehicle. Thats in the future though...probably a couple of years. http://sleepypod.com/sleepypod They have built in optional heaters which have car adapters as well as for traditional outlets...which for winter I would LOVE!!! I think these would also be AWESOME individual beds at home as well...or when we visit friends etc. They are pricey so who knows when I will ever be able to get one but I think they are the most awesome invention!!! One of my friends got three of them for her Chi's and she has been just THRILLED with them...the Chi's love them too!!! Plus...they really are adorable She got the pink...which of course I would want the girls to have ...and Mouse and Nugget would get the blue ones...or the Chocolate...I know...I am dreaming!!!! Before I saved enough for the car seats I have now I had ones I made. If you have the $ to buys car seats then that is the way I would advise you to go but if you don't you certainly could do what I did for a long time till I got the real ones! I bought 3 square laundry baskets from Walmart @ $5 each. The plastic kind...cheap laundry baskets! I then bought sheets of foam (2" thick) and cut to fit the inside walls of the baskets ($15 total on sale with a 50% off coupn from Joanes)...so far total investment of $30. I had fabric already that I loved...red dog print...so I covered all the foam. For the bottom of the basket I used 3 worn out square couch pillows that fit in PERFECTLY and covered them with the red fabric as well. I made a cover that went down into the bottom...up the inside and over the outside all the way around the basket and zipped up on the bottom so the whole thing was removable and washable. I then wedged the covered couch pillow down into the bottom which held everything in place. Before I put the cover on, I took a hot sharp knife and cut two slits on two sides of the lower part of the basket...big enough I could snake my car's seat belt through...then put on the cover...belted the basket in place and then the covered pillow went on top so the dogs didn't come in contact with the car seat belt. My husband made 2 plastic covered heavy wire cable loops that attached through each side of the heavy plastic handles towards the tops of each basket... at the end of these wire cable loops he affixed Snap closures like you would see at the end of a leash. I think all that cable and hardware was under $7. Each basket could easily accomodate 2 dogs 15lbs and under so for $37 I had 3 GREAT car seats that held 6 dogs!! I guess you would have to count fabric and couch pillows if you needed to purchase them but you could purchase the pillows from a thrift store as they will be totally covered by your own fabric. These baskets were as "secure" as the car seats I purchased but they were not as nearly as nice...but they did work for a long time and my dogs spent many hours in the. We didn't have any "BIG" accidents while in these but we did have a fender bender in a parking lot when someone backed into me rather hard. Everyone was fine...no one flew out of the seat or got hurt in anyway...but of course that wasn't a head on collision LOL!!! I will say that they were better than nothing!! Waggin' Tails in The Dog Park, Deanna and The Dog Park Pack: Nugget, Shuai-Li, Mouse, Myrtle, Mable,and Caleb and honorary non-dog members of The Dog Park: Stella-Macaw, Stanley-Amazon, Miles the cat www.joys4toys.com ________________________________ From: Jacqueline Crawley-Ewing <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 6:48:17 AM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Sissy Update I wanted to ask some of you about car seats for dogs - what you use and why? Glad your trip went well. ________________________________ From: Ellen <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 12:10:29 AM Subject: [Chihuahuas] Sissy Update Well we made it to our vacation destination and Sissy traveled absolutely perfectly! She stayed in her car seat and was simply an angel! WE are on the 15th floor overlooking the ocean and it is cold here! I do not care as I am not here to sun worship or swim LOL infact I brought my sewing machine to sew some! I went out tonight an bought Sissy a new fleece lined coat....speaking of chi shopaholic's! Wish I could see the pictures but for some reason I can;t...Ellen
