As conscious dog owners, we feel like we've heard all the dog safety tips a million times. Then there were some things we hadn't heard about, that actually happened to our real-life dog friends. Here are some things they shared with us that go beyond the Urban Myth:
The Importance of Dog Seatbelts
One of our
SociaBulls friends just told us this scary story about how they were out for a drive and they had to stop the car suddenly. Their 70 pound pooch who loves sticking his head out of the car suddenly flew out the window. The car who was following behind them had to suddenly swerve and barely missed hitting their pooch. Besides a slightly scraped chin, he made it away safely, but it is frightening to think of how narrowly he escaped injury. Now he only rides in the car with his doggy seatbelt. Here is our original post detailing
what we learned about dog seatbelts.
Monitoring your Pooch's Water Source
Another SociaBulls friend was recently very, very ill and diagnosed with lepto. It is something that is passed through animal urine; it is usually wildlife or rats. It can be picked up by drinking from a puddle or even licking the grass where an infected animal urinated. Apparently there can be several strands of the disease that are not always covered by the typical vaccination. Our friend is doing well now, but she doesn't have the stamina she once had. She wanted us to spread the word to always watch the water your pooch is drinking and never allow them to drink from standing water.
Watching for Sunburn and Skin Disease
So many of our pitbull type dogs have only one layer of fur which can make them prone to sun damage, especially the white dogs. Dogs skin can burn just like humans, and sometimes it only takes one single sunburn to cause severe damage. Pooches should stay out of the sun or wear sunscreen. Read more about it from
Daisy the Pink Pitbull who recently had some of her sun-damaged spots removed.
What are some other below-the-radar safety tips we should all know?
Also,
The Unknown Dangers of Human Food and
When Dog Equipment Fails.
11 comments:
Recently we had a truck overturn with several agility dogs here in AZ - some survived, some didn't. We do our best to belt our boys in, but have yet found a seat belt that doesn't strangle them halfway thru our trip. At this point, we are just clipping leashes to their harnesses and securing them to the seat frame.
Sam
Seat belt + harness is the way to go. We've tried several styles, and we've settled for the clever ones we bought a few years ago - they're simply short leashes that have a seat belt "male" piece on one end and a regular leash clip on the other. We just clip it to our dog's harness and he's good to go.
A past foster of ours had learned out to roll down the window in the back seat (I kid you not)... and when her and her dad were on their way to the park, she jumped/fell out. The windows are on child lock now!
We don't have a harness, but I never let my dogs stick their heads out the window (unless we're in a full stop and i can hold the leash)... we stick to cracking the window about 4 inches so their snouts get some good sniffs, but never their full head. I've heard about debris hurting eyes and wind hurting ears...we just dont really mess with the windows.
This post makes me feel like I should step it up. I have a car harness, but I only ever use it when we go on road trips - not for day-to-day city driving. Of course, I'm more likely to have any kind of accident in the city, so I should be more diligent with the seat belt.
Thankfully, Milo doesn't ever put his head out the window, even with the windows fully down. He just sits in the middle and lets the air whoosh in to him.
We use a harness specifically made for riding in the car with a clip that loops through the car seat belt. Our dog loves it as he doesn't slide around in the car. I haven't seen anyone mention that it's not just the pup that can get injured... if he/she isn't secure in the car, in an accident they'd be like a huge torpedo that can fly through the windshield... or right at you!
Otto always rides wearing a Champion seatbelt, and we always put the child locks on the windows. I did find a review of dog seatbelts at http://www.agilepooch.com/dogstuff/dogbelts/dogbelts.html
I don't know if this is "obscure" or just something that most other people don't do. We take the pups to social events more often in the summer, and we ask our friends not to feed them human food. Some of our other dog-owning friends don't make this request, and we see their dogs being fed all sorts of things that we would not want the Badgershrooms to eat. It seems a little overprotective, but Badger especially has a delicate digestive system, and we're the ones who have to clean up whatever comes out.
SInce our boxer Maggie Mae was a puppy she has been secured in the back seat of the car with a seatbelt/harness. When we rescued Max, we started training him to do the same. Now both "ride inside" safe and secure.
Don't forget that hot pavement can cause severe burns on your pup's pads. It is an issue right now in Central Texas where temps are in the upper 90's to low 100's!!! Walk in the shade or early in the morning.
Nutty that mom is reading this. Her friend called and told mom there was an accident near the park she works at. The car rolled three times. One dog ran and is missing while the other two were located.
Benny & Lily
Great tips to share! I worry about sunburn on the Greyhounds, too, but since I tend to burn really easily myself, we try not to be out during times when we're prone to burning as an extra precaution.
Post a Comment