I like being able to take my dog with me on car rides so her safety is just as important as mine. My old dog never had his own seat belt and most of the time he would sit in the backseat or in the front on someone’s lap. Times and car safety features sure have changed and now I am quite reluctant to let my new dog in the front seat unless we are parked. I have read and seen on TV how the airbags on the passenger side are hazardous to dogs, potentially causing serious injuries or killing small dogs altogether – something I do not want to happen to Fin.

The problem with having her in the car while I’m driving alone was that even though I put her in backseat, she wouldn’t always stay there. Sometimes she would jump in the front and get into my purse, sniff the cup holders, steal the straw from my drink, swat me with her tail or try to climb on me. Sound familiar to anyone? Well this was rather distracting and I don’t want her causing an accident so I decided it was time to invest in some kind of restraint that would keep her in the back. What I ended up getting was a leash with a seat belt adaptor (see picture below).

This restrain was relatively inexpensive and cost 9$ at Mondou but I’m sure it can found easily at other pet stores, but not at Safari (I looked there first). It clips to her harness and the other end gets buckled as though it was any other seat belt. I didn’t really have to adjust it and she can get to either of the windows and still has a little bit of play so she can get her front paws on the console but not go any further. I almost can’t believe I didn’t get this sooner.

It has helped her not fall all over the place when I’m driving. Fin doesn’t quite have her car legs yet, though she is getting better at not flopping all the over the place when I make turns and she is definitely falling off the seat less when I stop. I do make an effort to brake quite smoothly and slowly although that is not always possible in Montreal, when you get cut off by crazy drivers. Also, now I feel comfortable leaving her in the car for short periods of time while I run into the store, bank or restaurant. She can’t really get into or scratch anything this way so it brings me peace of mind.

I have seen a couple downsides though. First, this leash/seat belt might not fit into every latch, on some cars the middle one in the backseat has a special design for the latch and latch plate (see this diagram if you get as confused as I do about car parts) so I can’t buckle her into that one. This really isn’t much of a problem except when there are two passengers in the backseat.  Second, because dogs will rarely sit or lie still during a car ride, it’s not uncommon for Fin to end up with the strap wrapped around a leg or woven between them. I’m a little worried this could cause broken leg(s) if ever I had to stop really quickly or we got into a crash.  Maybe something like this zip line could be the solution to that, although then I would be worried about her strangling herself.

I am thinking of getting her a better car ride harness though. While she does have a harness, it’s thin straps and there are some that give more coverage and are slightly padded, like this one from Snoozer. I think this might not cause as much damage if we ever happened to get into an accident. Readers, what is your opinion on that? As well, let me know what your thoughts are on automobile pet safety.

I was watching Underdog To Wonderdog on tv one day, and Andrea Arden, the trainer on the show, gave one of the families this toy that dispenses food for their dog. This got me thinking about food dispensing toys, I had already heard of those Kong toys and while I do have one, I wanted the one I saw on that show since the dog needs to move it around for the kibble to come out. 

I looked it up online and after reading some reviews I had mixed feelings about it and some of the other toys I saw. Now the main issue in the bad reviews seemed to be that the toys were getting chewed apart in minutes by dogs wanting to get at the food too quickly instead of playing with it to get the kibble to dispense.  I suspect, in some cases, that the owner never showed the dog how to use it and in other cases the dogs ran out of patience when hungry. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get a toy that could, potentially, be destroyed while I wasn’t home.

I decided to get one anyways and teach my dog how to use it properly. I would see if she could be trusted to use it when I wasn’t around before leaving her unsupervised. Instead of purchasing a toy similar to the Busy Buddy Twist 'n Treat Dog Toy, as originally planned,  I got the Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball at Wal-Mart for 10$. They had two sizes and I went with the bigger one that is 5” in diameter.

As soon as I got home, I cleaned it up with soap and set it out to dry for a bit before putting some kibble in it. Finley really loves this toy and got the hang of it pretty quickly. She did try to chew the ball a couple times, where the hole is to put the food in. I only had to gently discourage her a few times and show her how to get the kibble by rolling the ball around. Sometimes the ball needs to be rolled around for a bit before kibble or treats will come out, so it’s not always instant gratification when the toy gets moved around.

She now gets really excited whenever I get the ball out and loves playing with it. Since she’s a small dog, it doesn’t take that long for her to get her whole meal out of the ball, maybe 30-45 minutes if she’s determined and hungry. I only put a portion of one meal in the ball when I go out and sometimes there are a few pieces left when I get home.  I like that it comes in several sizes, so that dogs of any size can enjoy it.

There are a couple downsides to the toy thought. The last few pieces of kibble can be pretty hard to get out and it’s not like you can reach in to get them since the hole is only big enough to get one finger in. This also means there is no easy way to clean it out either. You can get around that problem easily by soaking the ball in soapy water for a while or rinsing it out a few times and letting it dry overnight to dry before using again.

Overall, it’s a great product that I would recommend to anyone and I think it’s a toy that will last for a long time. Please visit the Omega Paw website to find out where you can buy the Tricky Treat Ball.

This section will feature products (that I may or may not mention in my blog) and other things I have come across and wish to share with my readers.