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MCALEER: Keep cars safe for canine co-pilots

Dog is my co-pilot. Well, not my co-pilot exactly, but possibly yours. On the North Shore, we love our furry friends, and most of them love to go for a ride in our cars (unless it's to the V-E-T).

Dog is my co-pilot. Well, not my co-pilot exactly, but possibly yours. On the North Shore, we love our furry friends, and most of them love to go for a ride in our cars (unless it's to the V-E-T).

I've seen golden retrievers sitting up front in a righthand-drive Mitsubishi Delica, looking to the casual observer like they were actually doing the driving. I've seen squirrel-sized Yorkies perched between steering wheel and driver. Yesterday I saw an Australian Shepherd locked in a Geo Prizm (in the shade and with the windows down, don't worry) that had learned how to honk the horn with its butt. It did so frequently until its owner came out.

Now, the argument can be made that almost any car can be suitable for a poochy ride-along, be it convertible or crossover. However, the lackadaisical way many pet owners seem to regard safety for their canine co-trippers beggars belief.

Consider the front-seat riding lap dog. Essentially, letting Scrappy sit right up next to the steering wheel puts him inches away from a volatile explosive device intended to inflate violently in milliseconds, imbedding the poor Yorkie in your ribcage, like some lostfootage scene from Aliens.

Oh sure, you say, but when the window's down and the sun's out, you're just cruising along at low speed anyway. If you're stopped at a light and somebody rear-ends you, even at 40-50 kilometres per hour, that thing's going off, and so is Scrappy - to the big dogpark in the sky.

Even worse is when small dogs are allowed to lie across the rear parcel shelf in a sedan. Essentially, that's like balancing a furry football back there, and in an emergency braking manoeuvre, they represent a danger to both pooch and passenger.

The best place for a small dog is in a strappeddown pet-carrier of some kind, or at least confined to the footwell. It's not as interesting for them, perhaps, but it's at least safe.

For larger animals, all sorts of extras exist to make life easier. Folding ramps are great for helping older dogs get into the back of SUVs and higher crossovers, and there's a line of harnesses from Kyjen that includes a handle to help Old Yeller git on up.

Where cars are concerned, some vehicles here are better suited for dog-carrying duties than others. The Honda Element, for instance, is much-missed for its hose-out floor and low loading height. Happily, the current generation of CRV has a very low loading floor considering its overall height, which also contributes to a bit more headroom for a longer-legged dog. Anyone who owns a standard poodle will know how tricky it can be to find a station wagon that still has enough roof clearance.

Almost every manufacturer makes a fitted dog gate for the rear of their hatchbacks, and universal fitment aftermarket options exist for those that don't. You don't want just a deterrent here, but something with real rigidity to hold Fido in place in case of a collision.

The good news with the proliferation of crossovers in the common market is a greater choice for pet owners looking for something to haul their dogs along. Along with the CRV, the Subaru Forester remains a solid choice, with upright rear glass that doesn't cut into cargo space, and the off-road ability to get to the trailhead if your dog is the clambering type. The Subaru's rear fabric isn't super-rugged, so you probably want to invest in a plastic cargo tray, but a more frugal alternative is to get a large off-cut of carpet and snip it to fit. Plastic is great for preventing spills and stopping dirt from getting really bedded into the fibres, but it is slippery if your dog tends to stand up - possibly keep a dog bed in back there.

For longer distance hauling, the VW Golf Wagon and the BMW 3-Series Wagon are both available with stout diesel powerplants that are built to hit the highway. Neither is quite as big as semi-mini-vans like the Kia Rondo or the Dodge Journey, but they do provide most of the elements of dog carrying capacity with impeccable touring manners.

However, you need not invest in a wagon or similar vehicle to haul your dog around safely. There are any number of products on that claim safety benefits for transporting your pet.

But who tests these things? If you wanted to tie your baby to the roof with a piece of twine, Transport Canada might have a thing or two to say about that, but the same level of consumer protection for dog owners doesn't really exist at a government level.

Happily, consumer groups like the Center for Pet Safety are quite active about this sort of thing, and recently evaluated three of the more popular harness systems on the market with some real-life crash-testing. A general rule of thumb here is that some protection is better than nothing, but there was one harness that emerged as relatively safe and recommended: the Sleepypod Clickit Utility. It's a three-point web harness that attaches in such a way as to give your dog the same basic seatbelt protection that you enjoy, and it can fit into pretty much any sedan.

As to the safety concerns about your dog sticking its head out the window and letting the drool fly in the slipstream? Well, some things are sacred traditions - maybe just strap a set of Doggles over his eyes so that he doesn't get any debris in there.

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. Contact him at mcaleeronwheels@gmail.com. Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer.