It’s not often that we get to bring our two dogs with us on vacation, so it was a real treat for us when we went out to the Hamptons a couple of weeks ago and had them tag along. Believe it or not, the pups love riding in the car as much as they do and I know that they view it as much of a luxury as we do.
Toby, our Yorkie tends to find his spot in the back and stay there the entire ride, while Hudson, our Silky loves to have his hair blowing in the wind and would very much appreciate the windows down for the entire trip.
We consider Toby and Hudson as members of our family and care about their wellness and safety. That is why I loved that Subaru has put our pet’s safety in mind when they partnered with the Center for Pet Safety to fund testing of pet car safety restraints. We often think about testing the safety of ourselves and our children in cars, but we hardly stop to think about the safety of our pets.
There are currently no standards or testing protocols on the market for pet restraints. Subaru and CPS teamed up to facilitate a landmark pet car safety restraint study to identify the current top performing harness designs and help create testing standards for pet safety products before they go to market. Initial pilot testing was already underway by the Center for Pet Safety and the results weren’t good. Many of the current pet restraints on the market didn’t hold us to the test.
Many of us, myself included, don’t think about restraining our pets while driving, but we really do need to stop and think how much they would be protected if the car was involved in an accident. I applaud Subaru for taking the initiative to fund this project so that we can give these members of our family just as much safety as the rest of them.
To learn more about the project, visit the Center for Pet Safety.
{Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I received the Subaru Forester for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.}
