[derby98]

Government trying to change the way lap dog owners drive.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/15938582/detail.html

 

[SunCzarina]

I certainly hope no one here drives with a GS in their lap! It's a good idea, how can someone operate a motor vehicle with a yap dog in the lap? What happens when the little one flips out becuase some big dog is walking down the street? Like I haven't seen that hundreds of times.

 

[AbbyK9]

I think this is an excellent idea, but at the same time, it's very sad that we have to make rules and laws for things that should be matters of common sense.

When someone is driving, their attention and focus should be on their driving, the road in front of them, and the drivers, pedestrians, and road signs around them. Their attention should not be on changing the radio station, talking on their cell phones, holding their dog, yelling at their children, or whatever is not related to driving.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, riding in its owner's lap is also very unsafe for the dog, not just the driver. For example, if the driver hit's another car and the airbag goes off, what happens to the dog? Dogs (and children!) should be safely sitting in the back seat of a vehicle, buckled in or in a crate (the dog, not the children).

 

[ldpeterson]

Originally Posted By: SunCzarinaI certainly hope no one here drives with a GS in their lap!

LOL! I have driven once with Maiya in my lap. I don't know why she feels the need to drive but she does. Fortunately it was only two blocks through my 20 mile an hour subdivision!

Honestly, while I know it's a hazzard driving with a dog on your lap why not crack down on people driving and yapping on cell phones FIRST. They have done it here but only through school zones. I think they need to enforce it for anyone driving anywhere! Far more dangerous than foo foo sitting in your lap. IMO.

Oh well, that's another thread. Back to dogs!!!

 

[JonathonsGrandma]

I hate to admit it but Chance used to want to be in my lap in the car.It's a long story but when he was little he used to get car sick.So he would lay across the passenger seat with his head in my lap.I used to get where I was going looking like I had wet my pants from all the drool from his nerves.When he got too big I couldn't get him to ride anywhere else.I even bought a dog harness seatbelt and hooked him in the backseat of my small ford tempo.The seatbelt didn't hold and before I was 2 blocks away he was half way up between the seats chocking himself in the process.
Last year I finally got a mini van and he's not happy but he's strapped to the back bench seat.And I'm so thankful that he never caused us to get into an accident.

 

[Mandalay]

When I was growing up we had Bearded Collies. I used to drive aorund with her in the back seat or in the passenger seat and let her have the run of the car. Then when I was 19 or so I was involved in a car accident and the other driver had a furry mutt dog of comparable size in his car. He also had a small child. That driver did not hit me hard, we were going about 30, maybe 35 mph. His dog flew through the car and landed on the child that was strapped in the car seat causing a lot of injuries to the child that would probably have otherwise gone unharmed in the accident. I learned then that even a 35 pound dog, while flying through the air, can cause serious damage. I never drove with my dog again without a seatbelt on her (something she did not take to well). When I got my Rottweiler always rode in a crate and the Dobie either rode in a crate or with a seat belt. My GSD puppy has not gotten a dog seatbelt yet, but it is soon coming. Not just to protect myself and my family from her injuring us, but to protect her from hitting the windshield or a side window.

 

[Kayos and Havoc]

I agree it is a good idea and a safety issue but it is another law on the books too. There have been seat belt laws and car seat laws for years and we still see little kids bouncing around on back seats and infants in mom's arms in the front seat.

The last time I had a GS on my lap was when Max panicked in a thunderstorm and actually pushed the barrier in my old Trailblazer down. He got into the backseat and then into the front seat with me. We were coming back from an agility trail in Indiana when I was still living in KY. Thankfully I had enough time to get over on the shoulder of Interstate 64 and get him under control.

Thunderstorms are very rare here in this part of OR which makes Max happy.

 

[CertainlySpoiled]

I think a law is a good idea, I see way too many people driving around with small dogs in their laps, and personally I don't think it's safe at all!

 

[ninhar]

Years ago I did an emergency transport of 2 little poo dogs from northern NJ to Baltimore. This was from a long distance adoption that had gone bad and I was traveling to MD to visit family so I agreed to take them. When the person who had picked the dogs up from their owner met me at a rest area, all I was given was the dogs, the leashes and their paperwork. No crate.

I drove 3 1/2 hours with these 2 little poo dogs alternating riding in the passenger seat and on my lap. It was slightly hair-raising and quite distracting, especially when we were at the tolls. Never again.