“Click it or ticket” is a common phrase to remind drivers and passengers in a car to buckle up. More important than not getting hit with a fine is the issue of safety. What loving parent would neglect properly strapping in their child? If an accident should occur, proper restraint could prevent serious injury and even death. But what about your fur baby? For them, there’s Clickit.
Clickit 3-Point Safety Harness
Clickit is a car harness for dogs by Sleepypod. It makes me shake my head when I see a dog roaming around a car freely while in motion, especially if it’s on the driver’s lap. How can someone expect them to survive a crash like that?
A harness provide both protection and security. Speckles is always unstable and somewhat on edge in the car, despite her enthusiasm of being out with us. We try to make sure she sits or lies down at all times but she just can’t seem to let her guard down. Since we sold our crossover SUV and only drive a normal sedan, it’s even more important that we keep her restrained somehow.
Proven Car Safety for Dogs
However, a harness doesn’t do any good if it doesn’t actually do what it’s supposed to. Did you know that not all dog harnesses for the car are made equal? Subaru of America, Inc. and the Center for Pet Safety (CPS) did a study of how several harnesses fared with crash test doggies. Only one made the cut – Sleepypod’s Clickit. That was reason enough for me to want to use it!
From the study:
The overall results of the testing indicated Sleepypod’s Clickit Utility Harness as the clear top performing harness brand, as it was the only harness tested to consistently keep a dog from launching off of the seat and the only restraint deemed to offer substantial protection to all passengers, including the dog, in the event of an accident. If a pet launches off of the seat, it can strike a human passenger or risk serious contact injury to the dog from internal structures in the car.
Measuring, Adjusting, Using
To get the right size for your dog, there’s an easy sizing guide on the Sleepypod web site. Speckles actually required a large. She is on the smaller side of the measurements so a good amount of adjustment was necessary. I found the adjusting to be a challenge and I’m still not sure if I have it just right. Putting the harness on is easy enough though.
- Place short straps around dog’s neck. Colored section should form a “T” on the chest.
- Take one long strap and pull around the opposite side of your dog and attach end to the lower buckle of the “T” piece.
- Repeat step 2 with the other long strap, crossing over the first and making and “X” on the dog’s back.
- Have dog sit on seat and thread seatbelt through the “X” where straps cross.
- Use included belts to attach hooks to car seat anchor. Follow instructions included in package to do this properly.
You can also attach your leash to the harness for easy transition from the car to going for a walk.
When we brought Speckles on a trip using the Clickit, it was the first time we saw her so comfortable in the car. She easily laid down on her own and even fell asleep. She was that relaxed. Finally she wasn’t sliding about on our leatherette seats.
The seatbelt was kind of tight and did pull Speckles towards the side when she sat up though (her body is too long to fit perpendicular to the seat). I also found that the belt attached to the car seat latch was too loose. Speckles had so much slack that she could even stand up and try to turn around. I say “try” because she ended up getting all tangled up in the seatbelt.
She also pulled a “houdini” one time and somehow managed to wriggle out of the harness completely with both latches and the seatbelt attached. I think we both need more time to get used to using the Clickit harness.
From now on, we’ll probably use Clickit any time we bring Speckles in the car. She feels more secure and I feel like a better pet parent. Since she has such a long body, the only way she can be comfortable is laying down, though, and that makes it hard to attach both latches. However, I won’t be distracted with her milling about and can concentrate on driving.
Links:
- Clickit official site
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