Car Harness/chest Measurements?

[llannon]

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Hi,

We have finally got our whippet pup, and have been looking at the different ways in which he can travel in the car.

I had been looking at the car harnesses in Pets at Home, but they cost £11.99 so didn't want to rush to get one, as our little man is only 7 weeks old.

Yesterday my wife saw that in a local Crazy Macs they had a load of stock from a Pets at Home store including the same harnesses for £5.00! BARGAIN!!!

My question is what size am I likely to need when our boy is fully grown??? Can anyone advise, or let me know the chest measurement of your dog and his age, so I can work out an average.

Many Thanks,

Matt

 

[whippetsrus]

I use a medium on both of mine. However, there is quite a lot of room for adjustment on both buckles to allow for growth. All seem to be designed in the same manner so should not be a problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[julie_s]

I'm afraid I can't say anything about sizes, we bought a small harness for our pup and it still doesn't fit she's nearly 10 weeks old now.

But what I really wanted to say was "Where's the pics! We all like photos..."

Hope you're having as much fun with him as we are with our wee Ruby!

Julie

 

[jue332]

We got medium size for our whippets and used them from being small pups and just altered the harness as they grew. :thumbsup:

Yes we do need some pictures

 

[jok]

Frankie has got a medium - don't know what make, i bought it at crufts. It is on the tightest adjustments and still could do with being a bit tighter. Frankie is a big dog as well. I'll be buying a small for Holly, there is no way she'd fit in a medium. They are very adjustable so im sure a small would be fine.

 

[jue332]

We got medium size for our whippets and used them from being small pups and just altered the harness as they grew. :thumbsup:
Yes we do need some pictures 

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Forgot to say we bought our from Pets at Home, the red ones :thumbsup:

 

[llannon]

Many Thanks, bought a medium this afternoon...will just have to put it away for a few months till he grows a bit.

I will try and take a pic tomorrow.

Thanks again...I keep finding more and more questions to ask!

 

[Macha]

My greyhound type lurcher has twice twisted out of a car harness which I thought fitted him. Not in a car, I had him on lead and thought the harness would be more secure than a collar. So I'm wondering if I just need to tighten the collar of the harness or if certain harness designs would fit sighthounds better than others (as is the case with dog coats).

I have to say that I'm not very impressed with the design of car harnesses I've seen. They may keep the dog from climbing around and distracting the driver but the plastic buckles don't look like they would hold fast in event of an accident and the non-padded belts cut into the dogs under their front legs.

 

[~elizabeth~]

I have to say that I'm not very impressed with the design of car harnesses I've seen.  They may keep the dog from climbing around and distracting the driver but the plastic buckles don't look like they would hold fast in event of an accident and the non-padded belts cut into the dogs under their front legs.

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I'd have to agree. We tried one with ours when we had a car that was too small for a cage; he used to get fairly tangled up even on quite a short journey. Also he was very car sick until he was about 2, and the back seat would be covered in some form of vomit after every journey. I was very glad when we were able to start using a cage.

 

[llannon]

The harness I have just bought (same as the Pets At Home ones) looks pretty good...the strap that comes up between his legs is padded, and the rest looks like it's pretty strong.

Will just have to wait till he grows into it now...lol

 

[urchin]

dij had to have a LARGE! unsurprisingly

he got the hang of it very quickly - only tangling himself up the first time we used it.

Have no idea if it would hold in a collision but, before i got it, any sudden breaking would cause him to fly forward. This must have been scary for him and i'm sure if i ever had to really jam on the anchors, would be enough to really hurt him.

As there isn't room in the micra for a crate - it feels like the seatbelt is the next best thing.

 

[kim & Tilly]

TBH i perfer a cage, in the back/boot....

If your in an accident the dog wont be flying around...

 

[whippetsrus]

As far as I understand it there are two types of harness. Those designed to just keep your dog where you want when in the car. The other as a safety measure. Suppose it depends which sort you have.

 

[chelynnah]

This is what we use. It relies on heavy duty metal D rings, and bull snaps to take the impact. The same metal used for livestock, so it's strong. When we started using seatbelts we used the ones from Pets at Home, but those all rely on the plastic buckles, and at 60-70mph I don't think they'll hold tight for a second. So we started researching and found these. I don't know if they'll ship to the UK. I had them ship to a friend in the US who forwarded them to me.

Yes, crates are better, but when your car design doesn't allow for it, then these are great. Very safe and secure, just takes a bit of training to teach the dog how to turn so they don't get tangled in it.

The other brand I thought about was the Ruff Rider http://www.ruffrider.com as they are also stress tested and use metal parts.

Wendy

 

[debbie_lab]

I know this is kind of old, but in case someone still looks at this post:

My sis in law bought a Champion seatbelt for her dog and the quality is superb! They make them in the US but ship to UK too now. Try www.caninesafety.co.uk if you are looking for one. This was already said in this post before but I'd like to repeat it anyway: those cheap 'supermarket' harness won't keep your dog safe for a second if it really comes to an accident or even a sharp full stop! They might be cheaper, but you know what you get for it...