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Where do you buy security screens? My Silverado has the screens gone because of the sheep/goats I hauled in the back. Also once I was doing a sheepdog demo and had my best dog escape his crate and go through the partially open window (due to no screens). Fortunately he is social with people and a person that knew me and my dog brought him to me. I would love to replace the screens with something like this. Actually I would love to replace the whole truck with a smaller one like yours. I used to have a 91 Toyota p/u with a shell, that I loved. The one thing I will say about my 2001 Silverado though, is that it is great on long trips. It rides like a luxury car and holds practically anything I need, including 6 people and at least 5 dogs, Plus all the paraphernalia involved.

 

I got mine at the SnugTop dealer that sold me my cap; they installed them for me and they were quite inexpensive. Best investment I've made on that truck.

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Bill

My bil had the same car- I remember when he showed up to pick up my sister in it, thinking he was sooo cool.

J

 

You thought he was cool, or he thought he was cool?

 

Just wondering, because my car wasn't what you'd call a chick magnet, nor did I particularly expect it to be.

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Mine proved to be a guy magnet though....

 

I met dh ( who drove a skoda) and when, after we'd spent the whole evening talking, he left the bar and I drove after him in it, flashing my headlights. He thought I was a road rage lunatic and drove faster and faster down tiny country lanes. But I caught him. And the rest is history....

 

The MGB went on its way though, after one expensive repair bill too many, and after my dearly beloved went to wind the window down - and the winder came off in his hand. Stuck down, the window was. And it was winter.

 

Great liitle car though. A later model than yours though Bill. It had plastic bumpers rather than chrome.

 

I feel all nostalgic now....

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I am seeing how people are using the "seatbelts for dogs" with some of their set ups. Is there a particular brand or style that is the most safe and comfortable for the dog?

>>A lot of people recommend the Ruff Rider Roadie belt. I have a Champion Canine seatbelt for my dogs and love it. It's very sturdy and well made, and it was the only one they didn't get tangled in, since I could link the strap to the child-seat anchors in the back seat. Also, at the time that I bought my harnesses, the Ruff Rider was designed in a manner that made it very tough to actually put on the dog - they've fixed that now, I've heard they're much improved.

The Ruff Rider Roadie and the Champion are apparently the only two dog seat belts on the market that have actually been safety-tested. I was forced to trade in my fantastic little 1996 red Jeep Cherokee Sport (6-cylinder) when it died (sluj's photo on the first page of this thread brings back AWESOME memories of my wonderful car that could haul everything from multiple horse tack trunks to a whole Ikea sofa....sigh...) for a used 2003 Toyota Camry XLE V6, which is a decent and reliable but very bland car that gets about 22-23 mpg. In its better days, the Jeep was getting 15/19 mpg city/highway, but at the end, it was more about 12 mpg. Admittedly, the Camry is very roomy as mid-size four-door sedans go, since it is pretty wide and has a large trunk (folded 36" soft crate fits in there easily with plenty of room to spare) that connects to the interior of the car with the rear seats folded (I was able to transport a 12" x 2" x 8' board for Mojo's teeter this way after some maneuvering).

 

In any case, I had ordered a Ruff Rider seat belt for Godiva several years back, but returned it, as I thought the materials were not very comfortable for the dog (rough fabric with no padding), and, yes, I agree that it is fairly hard to put on. Plus, it doesn't work with combo shoulder/lap belts very well. Since Godiva is so little, I didn't think the super-wide straps of the Champion belt would work for her, so I ended up just getting her a nylon walking harness with all-metal hardware, padding it with horse fleece halter tubes, and then bought her an O'Donnell Snoozer II Lookout Car Seat that comes with a built-in harness attachment, and strapped the whole thing into the backseat using the combo shoulder/lap belt.

 

I did check out the new version of the Roadie when it came time for Mojo to have a car seat belt, but I didn't think the design had improved significantly enough to warrant another try, so like the other posters, I ended up buying him a Champion belt, too, which is working really well. Indeed, he doesn't get tangled up in it because of the swivel built into the harness attachment and the way the straps are able to slide past one another, and the chest padding is a nice bonus. For us, the sizing seemed to run small--his girth measurement just behind the elbows is about 26", and he has ranged between 29-35 lbs, so I ordered the medium, but the harness *just* fits--it is let out on its largest setting for the girth, but there is plenty of room across the chest for adjustment. I did also have to buy an additional carabiner to bridge the harness and the strap attached to the car, as the bull snap on the car attachment is REALLY hard to operate with one hand, and I didn't want to have to be fumbling with the clasp and wasting valuable time if there was an accident.

 

Finally, I got a "back-seat extender" so that the whole back seat of the car is level (no drop-off to the floorboards), allowing Mojo to stretch out and not fall down onto the floor every time the car stops (because no matter how short the attachment strap was adjusted, my back seat is apparently too narrow in the front-to-back direction to keep him safely on the seat--he kept ending up dangling from the harness, half-on and half-off the seat, which was awful). Plus, with the back-seat extender in place, I am now able to set up an Intermediate VariKennel sideways on the back seat without it tilting sideways into the floorboard gap, either, and you can still store items underneath the extender. So, here's what the Champion seat belt harness + carabiner + belt attachment + back-seat-extender looks like, complete with a muddy Mojo (Godiva's car seat is in the background to the upper right of the photo):

2008_02040084.JPG

 

Wolfee rides in the front seat and sits quietly, so I got him a Four Paws harness from Petco that has no play in the attachment (the car seat belt passes directly through a loop in the harness) so that he stays safely put in the seat.

 

Hope that helps!

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The blue strap in the back seat of my truck that is visible in my photo of Taz's crate on the first page of this thread is the anchor strap of a Champion seat belt system. Sophie, who hates crates, uses one. For us, the Champion has worked the best of all the canine seat belt systems we've tried.

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I haven't been abe to read all of the posts but I'll throw in what I drive. I have a '98 SLT Chevy Suburban. It has lots of room for crates and other things. I let Black Jack ride in the back seat unless we are going very far. Then I put him in his crate in the back seat. I have it tied off to the seat hook so there is no way for it to come out if something should happen. I feel better that way. Crates can be really bad for a dog in a car wreck if it's not tied in.

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I have a 00'Dodge 3/4 with a 'topper' made by Shamrock. It comes with a 'ladder' for dogs to hop up/down into their holes. Can take 8 dogs or my 5 plus storage in the empty ones. Lots of room underneath for gear.

cheers Lani

 

That's a neat setup. Can you show a picture with the ladders down?

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