Do You Think About Your Dog(s) Before Buying A Car?
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It’s been a while since we talked about some true mischief, but this week we’re hitting the old mischief archives and bringing up a story about a little guide dog puppy in training named Dublin…
Lets roll back the clocks to mid 2011. Dublin was not a young pup anymore probably about 13 months and very well-behaved. He was trustworthy for a 13 month old puppy and at this point we allowed him to lie down on the passenger side floor boards while Stetson did his K9 Nosework Training. Linus would sit in the back seat and both Linus and Dublin would usually just lie there quietly sometimes watching from the car, but never getting into any mischief until…
Dublin Vs. The CRV
One day Dublin decided he was bored of just lying on the passenger side floor boards. He wanted some adventure, excitement, or maybe just something to chew on.
Yep, Dublin decided the CRV parking break would make a great doggy chew toy! Lets just say I was not too pleased with Dublin’s actions. So what kind of discipline did I perform? I followed my own puppy training advice and took a rolled-up newspaper and hit myself over the head as I repeated the phrase, “I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG, I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG.”
Do You Think About Your Dog Before Buying A Car?
The good news is I don’t own a brand new, luxury car. The CRV is on it’s last leg and I recently began thinking about a possible replacement car that my dogs and I will both enjoy. I even visited the Orange County Auto Show not too long ago with Dublin to check out some of the dog friendly cars. Check out this video of Dublin sitting in some of our favorite dog cars (the first half of the video is our guide dog Halloween party):
I’ve been researching the best dog friendly cars for over 5 years and still haven’t found anything that I really like. Some of the front runners are the Honda Element, 4 Door Jeep Wrangler, the Nissan Xterra, and the FJ Cruiser. I’m not thrilled about any of those options and that’s probably why I haven’t pulled the trigger on a purchase.
So what do you think? Do you think about your dog(s) before buying a car? What kind of car do you currently drive? Is it a good dog friendly car? As a dog owner what are the positives and negatives of your current car? Please tell me all about your dog car in the comment section below.
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We find that vans and mini-vans are the best for our dogs. We have an old black lab and a young yellow lab. They can get in and out easily. They also like to have their own seats. We cover the seats with “doggie blankets.”
Thanks Sarah! We’re actually considering mini vans. It does seem easiest for dogs to get in and out. I’m sure I’ll appreciate that when my dogs are older.
We decided to go car-free last December. And yes, I did think long and hard about Honey before making the move.
But we already had good bikes and an expensive Doggy Ride cart. And, after months of training, Honey is finally riding in it. Now I just wish the city would fix the pot holes. 🙂
Good luck on your search. We had a subaru impreza before it bit the dust. They’re small enough to park anywhere and, with the seat down, have a lot of cargo space. And they’re pretty easy on gas.
Good luck with your search. Maybe you could get one of the car companies doing dog-friendly marketing to sponsor you?
Hi Pamela,
I’ll have to take a look at the Subaru Imprezza. I wish I could go to just riding my bike, but I think it would be too difficult at this time. That would be cool to get a car company to sponsor us. The two companies I remember marketing to dog lovers were Toyota Venza and Honda Element. Both cars had a dog-friendly option. I would have considered the Element, but now it’s discontinued…maybe I could get a deal on a used one.
Take care,
Colby
Great advice, I especially liked the part when you said you rolled up a news paper and hit yourself with it, I agree with you that if our dogs misbehave it’s because we failed to supervise them. Dogs are creatures of opportunity and will take advantage of any slack they get.
I totally agree! Every time my dog misbehaves it is my fault. I just wish every other dog owner would realize that.
A very interesting post Colby 🙂
Fortunately I am a bus person. I like reading and driving and reading just don’t match.
Agreed! Driving and reading at the same time really do not match. When we’re working with our guide dog pups we try to take them out on the bus several times to get used to public transportation. In fact, Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has a service animal bus training coming up the first Saturday of October that we plan on attending.
Thanks for stopping by!
Colby