BUCKLE UP YOUR PET WELCOMES YOU

OUR STORY

Why Buckle Up Your Pet?

I adopted my first dog, Bear, in 2009. We took our first road trip together when she was four months old. She sat on my lap in the front passenger seat as we made our way to the vet.  I thought it made sense to hold her on my lap in case we came to an abrupt stop.  Apparently, I believed I could defy the laws of physics and protect my dog from an airbag deploying at speeds up to 220 miles per hour. Like most pet parents, I didn’t understand how dangerous it could be to travel with an unrestrained pet in the vehicle.

After a few car trips, I noticed that Bear was happier traveling in a crate in the backseat. She never got carsick and posed no distraction to me as I drove. I thought I was doing the right thing by crating her, but the question remained, was she actually safe?

Yes, Bear was confined, but would the crate protect her from injury if we were in an accident? I started doing research and looked a videos of crash test doggies. I was appalled by what I saw and learned. It became clear that not only was Bear's safety in jeopardy, but so was mine.

As my awareness of Bear’s safety increased, I started noticing more and more unrestrained dogs and cats being driven around by their pet parents. We are a culture that loves traveling with our pets and a population of consumers who spend billions of dollars annually on pet products. However, not all of us take that extra step to ensure our pet’s safety (and our own) within the vehicle. I think that most of us believe that we are good defensive drivers but we are always at the mercy of drivers who share the road with us. And if we do go that extra mile to purchase a pet restraint system, how do we know that the one we have chosen is going to keep our pet safe? There is no centralized rating system for pet restraint systems and no federal legislation which requires that we restrain our pets in the vehicle.

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So what can we do as pet owners? In 2017, I created Buckle Up Your Pet as a method to educate pet parents about the importance of using a crash-tested harness, carrier or crate while transporting their pet in the vehicle. We cannot control everything; but we can make the inside of our vehicle safe for all of our precious cargo. This journey begins with you and the first step is to Buckle Up Your Pet.