Pet Safety in cars or trucks--a pet owners responsibility

 When I traveled across country to do my travel nursing in California, my buddy, Satchmo rode in the car with me.  He loved going in the car.  He was such a good travel buddy; but he was small (101bs.) and had a delicate bone structure, so I had to take extra steps to ensure his safety in the car.

He had a booster seat that was soft and padded with railing and it also had a tether built into the seat.  You just put the seat belt through the openings in the bottom of the seat and then he was good to go.

He loved it because it set him up high enough to see out the window without having to stand up.  He loved when a semi-truck would go by and he would bark at it. He never minded being put in

the seat and hooked up so he couldn't jump out.  He seemed to understand that he was safe and settled down to enjoy his trip.

We traveled back and forth from California to Texas that way, stopping at nights to rest and walk around--he liked smelling all the new senses along our route.  He was a fun dog and I miss him terribly.

I recently saw an article that made me think about this issue again recently.  It seems that Florida is about to enact a law to prevent dogs from hanging out of car windows, make is illegal to transport your pet without some form of tether/restraint, ride in the driver's lap or ride on motorcycles.  It is an interesting read and you can do so here.

So then I wondered how many other states have similar laws and I did a Google search for that. I found that there are some states that require restraint of pets in cars and other vehicles (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island). Although the following states don’t require pets to be restrained, they have enacted laws that could provide consequences for transporting unrestrained pets: Arizona, Hawaii, Iowa, South Carolina, Washington, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin. Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia have ambiguous laws about safety of pets and others while in vehicles. 

 The following states also make carrying unsecured animals in an open truck bed illegal: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington.  Do you know the law in your state?

There are many state laws that make it illegal to leave a pet unsupervised in a vehicle no matter what the temperature is outside.  Do you know if your state is one of these states?

Here is an interesting article about pet safety in cars and explains the benefits and risks of traveling with unrestrained pets very clearly so you can readily understand what is at stake.  We are not only talking about the safety of your pet, but your safety from driving distractions, other people's safety due to your distraction and the potential of your own liability should there be an accident.

How is this Safe?

It might be good for you to check out your state laws about the transport of pets in vehicles and about leaving pets unattended.  You may be surprised to discover that you are not following those laws because no one had told you about them.

I know I was surprised, but my state is one of those Ambiguous states, so I still am not sure what I am expected by law to be doing.  I hope this has educated you on this very serious issue.  Let me know what you think about it.

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