Dog Seatbelt Revisited
Even though I’m not a traditional mother with human kids, I like to think I deserve to get at least some of what I want on Mother’s Day. So, I brought Lilly along with us on our various visits. This meant strapping her into her seatbelt in Tom’s truck.
Since our initial dog seatbelt product review, Lilly hasn’t had much opportunity to use her Rough Rider Roadie. We’d also never tried to fit me, Tom, and Lilly into his truck before, but we were hauling things, so my car was out.
I could not find the attachment for the truck’s middle seatbelt, so I clipped me AND Lilly into the passenger seatbelt. It was a little awkward, but worked OK.
Dog Seatbelt: Freedom and Freakout
Because I’m pretty uptight about safety with dogs in cars, Lilly typically rides inside a crate (either hard side or soft side), she has never really had the chance to stick her head out the window … as so many dogs do (typically unrestrained).
Our Mother’s Day truck scenario afforded Lilly the chance to stick her nose out my partially opened window. She seemed curious about the fast-passing smells at first, but about a half mile down our main valley road, she:
- Furrowed her brows
- Dropped her ears (a sure sign of worry)
- Curled up against me, chest to chest, arms on either side of my neck
- Hugged me like this the entire drive down the canyon (about 20 minutes)
Super sweet, to be sure. But, I felt bad she was so worried.
Having Lilly cling to me in this particularly primate position reminded me of the one baby chimp I got to hold back when I worked for the American Humane Association.
Source of comfort, was I. Another example of being Lilly’s woobie, I suppose.
Dog Seatbelt: Gaining Confidence
By the time we got into town, though, Lilly perked up and even scooted over to sit (sort of) between me and Tom.
Unbuckling us at various stops on our Mother’s Day visiting route posed a few challenges — a bit like those tangled metal puzzles.
With each exit and re-entrance, however, we got better and better at it. Lilly seemed to be having fun. She eventually figured out she could lay down, with her head in my lap, and relax for the ride:
- Safely restrained so that she could not affect Tom’s driving
- Safely secured in the case of an accident
- Happily providing the puppy loving this Dog Mom needed
Dog Seatbelt: Different Car, Hanging Out
During one of our stops, we picked up Tom’s mom and used her car to come back up to the house. I buckled myself and Lilly into the back seat of the sedan, each of us with our own seatbelt this time.
Lilly must naturally circle clockwise before plopping down, but the seatbelt prevented that … unless I was prepared to help her slip through various obstacles. I feared making things worse or getting her even more tangled, so I let her sort it out.
So, I don’t think Lilly got to lay down exactly as she would have liked, but she did lay down and slept almost the entire way home.
I still prefer a crate in most cases, but the dog seatbelt provided a nice chance for Lilly to get out and help me enjoy the holiday.